Sweden drops rape probe against Julian Assange

International Desk: Sweden's director of public prosecutions has decided to drop the rape investigation into Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Marianne Ny said his arrest warrant was being revoked as it was impossible to serve him notice of his alleged crimes.

Mr Assange, 45, has lived in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since 2012, fearing extradition to Sweden would lead to extradition to the US.

Police in London said they would still be obliged to arrest him if he left.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) said Mr Assange still faced the lesser charge of failing to surrender to a court, an offence punishable by up to a year in prison or a fine.

But the UK has not commented on whether it has received an extradition request from the US, where Mr Assange could face trial over the leaking of hundreds of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic documents.

Source: Agencies
 

risingbd/Dhaka/May 19, 2017/A K Azad