Swedish court refuses detention request for Julian Assange

A prosecutor’s request to detain Julian Assange in absentia has been rejected by the Uppsala Court in Sweaden.

Per E Samuelson, Swedish lawyer of Julian Assange

The Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Eva-Marie Persson had submitted an application for a detention order regarding a suspected rape case. However, Assange’s Swedish lawyer Per E Samuelson highlighted that a detention order was “meaningless” since Assange is imprisoned in Britain at the moment and should not be considered a flight risk. He said it was not proportionate to ask for someone’s detention merely to conduct a questioning session.

Julian Assange’s supporters

As he explained last week to Reuters’ reporters, Samuelson requested the hearing to be postponed because Julian Assange was so ill that he didn’t manage to have a normal conversation with him. The request was denied, but today the judge agreed with the defence that it would not be proportionate to formally detain Wikileaks funder, since the prosecutor would be anyway able to carry out the investigation.

Julian Assange’s supporter during a demonstration

Julian Assange remains a suspect, however the Swedish investigation still includes a number of unclear questions regarding the relation between Sweaden and the Crown Prosecution Service in the United Kingdom, including the cancellation of a number of crucial email messages between the them, as highlighted by the FOIA documents obtained by the Italian journalist Stefania Maurizi. 

About Sara Chessa

Reporter and Human Rights Activist, member of the National Union of Journalists from 2015.
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