Sweden offers to question Assange in London about alleged sex crimes

London Swedish prosecutors on Friday offered to question WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London, potentially breaking a stalemate in an almost five-year-old investigation into alleged sex crimes.

Prosecutors had previously refused to travel to London, where Assange has spent almost three years inside the Ecuadorean embassy. Lead prosecutor Marianne Ny explained the change in position by saying some of the crimes the 43-year-old Australian is accused of will reach their statute of limitations in August.

"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.

"Now that time is of the essence, I have viewed it therefore necessary to accept such deficiencies in the investigation and likewise take the risk that the interview does not move the case forward," Ny said.

She said she had made a request to Assange's legal team on Friday to interview him in London and to have a DNA sample taken with a swab. She said permission was also being sought from Ecuadorean authorities.

WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said the Swedish decision was "a victory for Julian," but criticized the delay.

"I think it's absolutely outrageous that it took the Swedish prosecutor 4 1/2 years to come to this conclusion after maintaining that she couldn't come to London because it would be illegal to do so," he said. "Obviously that was a bogus argument."

One of Assange's defense lawyers, Per Samuelson, welcomed the move and said Assange would likely accept the offer. He said he had spoken to Assange early Friday.

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

Friday's move comes after Assange appealed his detention order to Sweden's Supreme Court, which earlier this week asked Sweden's prosecutor-general to issue an opinion.

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Sweden offers to question Assange in London about alleged sex crimes