Swedish Prosecutors Offer To Question Julian Assange In …

LONDON (AP) Julian Assange and his supporters warily welcomed a surprise U-turn Friday by Swedish prosecutors, who now say they are willing to come to London to quiz the WikiLeaks founder over alleged sex crimes.

The reversal, however, doesn't mean the anti-secrecy activist will soon be leaving the Ecuadorean embassy in London, his home and prison for almost three years.

Since 2010, Swedish prosecutors have sought to question Assange over sex allegations made by two women. Assange fought extradition through the British courts and, when that failed, holed up inside Ecuador's small diplomatic mission. British police stand guard around the clock at the building, ready to arrest him if he steps outside.

Assange denies the allegations against him, and believes extradition to Sweden is merely a first step in efforts to remove him to the U.S., where WikiLeaks infuriated officials by publishing secret documents including 250,000 State Department cables. Former U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning is serving a 35-year sentence for passing those documents to WikiLeaks and the U.S. investigation into WikiLeaks is ongoing.

On Friday, Swedish prosecutors reversed their long refusal to question Assange inside his London bolt hole, citing the five-year statute of limitations on some of the allegations against him.

One of Assange's defense lawyers, Per Samuelson, called the about-face "a great victory for Julian Assange," and indicated the 43-year-old Australian would likely agree to be questioned.

"This is something we've demanded for over four years," Samuelson told The Associated Press after speaking to Assange on Friday. "Julian Assange wants to be interviewed so he can be exonerated."

Sweden ordered Assange's arrest in August 2010. He has not been formally indicted, but he faces allegations of rape, sexual molestation and illegal coercion involving two women. The latter two allegations expire after five years, rape after 10 years.

Lead Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny said the looming deadline had prompted her change of mind.

"My view has always been that to perform an interview with him at the Ecuadorean embassy in London would lower the quality of the interview, and that he would need to be present in Sweden in any case should there be a trial in the future," Ny said in a statement.

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