Three out of four charges to reach their five-year expiry date next week as his lawyer calls for probe to be dropped.

Assange (right) has always denied the sexual assault allegations against him [AP]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to be cleared of three sexual assault allegations made in Sweden within days, as a five-year statute of limitations against the charges expires.

Three of the charges of sexual molestation involving two women he met during a visit to Sweden five years ago will expire on August 13 and August 18.

The statute of limitations on a fourth and more serious allegation of rape is not set to expire for another five years.

Never charged

Assange, who has been holed up at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for more than three years, has never been charged with any offence and has denied all of the allegations.

His lawyer, Thomas Olsson, told Swedish Television last week that it was “lamentable that it’s taken such a long time to wind up this case” and called on Swedish prosecutors to close the investigation.

However, he said it was unlikely that the closing of the case itself would be enough to prompt Assange to leave the embassy, where he has sought asylum since June 2012, as he remained concerned over being extradited to the US to face charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of classified US military and diplomatic documents.

“The reason he is at the embassy is his concern over being extradited to the US and prosecuted there because of the very serious accusations the US made about WikiLeaks publications and because of personal threats made by people in public office,” Olsson said.

“So long as that threat remains – and it’s a threat of global scope – he can’t leave the embassy.”

On Wednesday the Financial Times reported that Ecuador had agreed to hold talks with Sweden about questioning Assange, a move which could end a years-long stand-off.

Swedish officials said Ecuador had wanted Sweden to sign a bilateral agreement on judicial cooperation regarding Assange’s case before allowing Swedish prosecutors to question him. Sweden described the demand as unreasonable.

Assange’s lawyer Olsson said Assange’s lawyers had for several years requested prosecutors to come and interrogate Assange “but had not had a reply”.

“What people forget is that Julian Assange voluntarily attended the first interrogation and answered the questions he was asked,” Olsson said.

“Then the investigation was closed and a new prosecutor arrived on the scene to open it again.”

Bradley Manning, a US army soldier, in 2013 was sentenced in a military court to a maximum term of 35 years’ jail for passing on thousands of classified military documents to WikiLeaks for publication.

Ruling means WikiLeaks founder still faces extradition to Sweden if he leaves Ecuador embassy in London

by David Crouch, The Guardian

Stockholm’s appeal court has rejected a demand by Julian Assange’s lawyers to lift the arrest warrant against him, leaving the WikiLeaks founder still facing extradition to Sweden should he renounce his asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy.

“In making this assessment, account must be taken of the fact that Julian Assange is suspected of crimes of a relatively serious nature,” the court said in a statement on Thursday. A Swedish prosecutor first sought Assange’s arrest four years ago following sexual assault and rape allegations, which he denies.

“There is a great risk that he will flee and thereby evade legal proceedings if the detention order is set aside. In the view of the court of appeal, these circumstances mean that the reasons for detention still outweigh the intrusion or other detriment entailed by the detention order.”

But the court also noted that Sweden’s investigation into Assange had come to a halt and prosecutors’ failure to examine alternative avenues of investigation “is not in line with their obligation – in the interests of everyone concerned – to move the preliminary investigation forward”. The ruling is expected to put pressure on prosecutors to find new ways to break the deadlock.

Per Samuelsson, one of Assange’s lawyers in Stockholm, said the court’s criticism of the prosecutor was aimed at her refusal to come to London to question Assange.

“This is crucial because the court said we were right in the wording, but not in the court’s actual decision,” he said.

After the ruling he had spoken to Assange, who was disappointed but confident that they would prevail in the long run.

“Swedish and international law is on our side,” Samuelsson said. “The ruling shows we are on the right track, but unfortunately the court of appeal did not have the courage to overturn the arrest warrant.”

Asked what he meant by the need to pursue “alternative avenues” of investigation, Niclas Wågnert, the appeal court judge in the case, told the TT news agency: “That’s a matter for the prosecutor. One way would be to interrogate him in London.”

Following a rejection of their demands by a lower court in July, Assange’s lawyers argued in submissions to the appeal court that a European arrest warrant issued in November 2010 was being employed as a “coercive measure” against him because it could not be carried out, thereby condemning him to “deprivation of liberty” in order to exercise his right to asylum.

The submission said that, rather than explore possible avenues to break the deadlock, the prosecutor had “violated the principles of consideration urgency, and effectiveness” by refusing to interview Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy and “hiding behind the arrest warrant” as an excuse.

Britain’s Foreign Office said last month it would “actively welcome” a request by the prosecutor to question Assange inside the embassy and would “do absolutely everything to facilitate” such a move.

The appeal court also rejected a demand from Assange’s lawyers for the prosecutor to hand over 200 text messages sent by the WikiLeaks founder’s accusers around the time of his alleged crimes.

Assange has always claimed he is innocent and that he would be prepared to face a Swedish court were it not for a threat that he would be extradited to the US for political crimes. Neither the US nor Swedish governments have responded to his requests for guarantees. Assange has not been charged with any crime, but is being investigated over allegations of rape and sexual molestation.

In response to the appeal, the Swedish prosecutors in the case, Marianne Ny and Ingrid Isgren, said they accepted there was “a temporary obstacle” to executing the arrest warrant, but that it was nonetheless essential to prevent Assange from evading justice. His presence in the Ecuadorian embassy was voluntary and so did not constitute a deprivation of liberty, they said, thereby nullifying defence arguments about disproportionality.

The text messages contained sensitive information about the two women in the case, they said, and information had previously leaked on to the internet and led to the women being harassed. There were, therefore, “grave reasons” to protect the messages, the prosecutors said.

Legal opinion in Sweden is sharply divided on the case, with some arguing that the deadlock must be broken, principally by the prosecutors travelling to London to interview Assange. Politicians are reluctant to be seen to put pressure on prosecutors, while public opinion has wearied of the case.

Mats Larsson, a columnist for Expressen, Sweden’s largest tabloid, argued last month: “Everyone is tired of the Assange circus … it is high time it was resolved.”