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Extradition fight: Who is Julian Assange, why is Sweden seeking him?

A British court is hearing a final appeal from Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks whistleblower site, to avoid extradition to Sweden to face sex crime allegations. Here are four questions about the man and the case. 

4. What is behind Assange’s current legal battle?

  • By Whitney Eulich Staff writer

Despite the controversy surrounding his WikiLeaks-related work, Assange’s current legal battle is not directly related to this work.  In August 2010 two WikiLeaks volunteers in Stockholm accused Assange of sexual molestation, and a Swedish public prosecutor signed an extradition request to bring him to trial in Sweden. 

The legal battle taking place in London is over whether or not a public prosecutor, as opposed to a judicial authority, is legally permitted to sign arrest warrants as laid out in the Extradition Act of 2003, legislation that applies to European warrants.

Assange was arrested by British police on a European warrant  issued by Sweden in Dec. 2010. He was granted bail in London, but the court’s decision was appealed by Swedish prosecutors. London’s High Court heard the appeal and again granted Assange bail. However, in November 2011, Britian’s High Court decided Assange should be extradited to Sweden, a ruling Assange is appealing in British court today.

There are currently no legal charges against Assange in the US related to his role in publishing hundreds of thousands of pages of State Department cables and US military reports via WikiLeaks. However, a federal grand jury in Virginia has been collecting evidence against Assange and his associates for months, and the US Justice Department has been investigating Assange’s work as well, reports Reuters.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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