THE rape investigation into Julian Assange has been dropped, a Swedish prosecutor has said. Where is the WikiLeaks founder now?
Sweden has dropped the rape investigation case against Julian Assange. Deputy chief prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson told a news conference on Tuesday: I want to inform about my decision to discontinue the preliminary investigation. The decision follows a ruling in June by a Swedish court the WikiLeaks founder who denies the accusation should not be detained.
Mr Assange is currently incarcerated in HM Prison Belmarsh in south-east London.
Belmarsh is a Category A mens prison, meaning those whose escape would be considered highly dangerous to the public or national security.
The high-security prison has previous been branded a Guantanamo in our own back yard by British human rights organisations.
He is currently serving a 50-week sentence in Belmarsh prison in London for jumping bail in 2012.
Mr Assange was arrested on April 11 by the London Metropolitan Police.
A Scotland Yard statement issued at the time read: Julian Assange, 47, (03.07.71) has today, Thursday 11 April, been arrested by officers from the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) at the Embassy of Ecuador, Hans Crescent, SW1 on a warrant issued by Westminster Magistrates Court on 29 June 2012, for failing to surrender to the court.
He has been taken into custody at a central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates Court as soon as is possible.
The MPS had a duty to execute the warrant, on behalf of Westminster Magistrates Court, and was invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian governments withdrawal of asylum.
The arrest came after the WikiLeaks founders asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London was revoked.
Mr Assange would have been released from Belmarsh on September 22, Westminster magistrates court has previously heard, but he was told he would be kept in jail because of substantial grounds for believing he would abscond again.
The 48-year-old, who is an Australian citizen, appeared by video-link wearing a loose-fitting T-shirt.
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District judge Vanessa Baraitser told him: You have been produced today because your sentence of imprisonment is about to come to an end.
When that happens your remand status changes from a serving prisoner to a person facing extradition.
Therefore I have given your lawyer an opportunity to make an application for bail on your behalf and she has declined to do so, perhaps not surprisingly in light of your history of absconding in these proceedings.
In my view I have substantial ground for believing if I release you, you will abscond again.
Julian Assange came to international attention in 2010, when WikiLeaks published a series of leaks provided by whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
Assange is an Australian computer programmer and founded WikiLeaks in 2006.
As a child he, attended many schools, including Goolmangar Primary School in New South Wales and Townsville State High School as well as being schooled at home.
He studied programming, mathematics, and physics at Central Queensland University and the University of Melbourne but did not complete a degree.
While in his teens, the future WikiLeaks founder married a woman named Teresa, and in 1989 they had a son, Daniel, now a software designer.
The couple separated and initially disputed custody of their child.
Assange also has other children; in an open letter to French President Franois Hollande, he stated that his youngest child lives in France with his mother.
He also said that his family had faced death threats and harassment because of his work, forcing them to change identities and reduce contact with him.
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Julian Assange: Where is Julian Assange now as Sweden DROPS rape investigation? - Infosurhoy