'Interrogate Assange in London': lawyers
Lawyers representing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in Sweden have demanded that he be questioned in London over rape and sexual molestation allegations made by two Swedish women.
"All Assange asks is that he be treated according to Swedish law," lawyers Thomas Olsson and Per Samuelsson wrote in an op-ed article published on Wednesday in the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).
Assange broke bail and sought refuge at the Ecuador's embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning under a European arrest warrant. He claimed that he would risk further extradition to the United States on espionage charges over his whistleblowing website if he went to Sweden.
The prosecutor in charge of the case has refused to interrogate the Australian national in London, arguing that it would be against Swedish legal practice and represent special treatment, a claim his lawyers now refute.
"Prosecutor Marianne Ny must ... start treating him as everybody else who is under suspicion," the lawyers wrote, paraphrasing part of the Swedish legal code which allows investigations to "be adapted to the situation in which the investigated party finds himself".
The lawyers accused the prosecutor of "passiveness" and demanded her replacement if she is not prepared to interview Assange in London.
"Assuming that the prosecutor does not have a prejudiced opinion regarding the question of guilt, and is prepared to treat the different versions objectively, it is obvious that an interrogation with Julian Assange would benefit everybody, including the injured parties," they wrote.
Two women in their thirties accused Assange of rape and sexual molestation during a high profile visit he made to Stockholm in 2010 -- at the height of his website's revelations of US military attacks on civilians in Iraq – but the case has stood still as prosecutors have been unable to question the WikiLeaks founder.
The opinion article comes in response to an op-ed penned last week by Elisabeth Massi Fritz, a lawyer representing one of Assange's accusers in which she criticized calls to close the investigation and interference in the case by politicians.
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"All Assange asks is that he be treated according to Swedish law," lawyers Thomas Olsson and Per Samuelsson wrote in an op-ed article published on Wednesday in the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).
Assange broke bail and sought refuge at the Ecuador's embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning under a European arrest warrant. He claimed that he would risk further extradition to the United States on espionage charges over his whistleblowing website if he went to Sweden.
The prosecutor in charge of the case has refused to interrogate the Australian national in London, arguing that it would be against Swedish legal practice and represent special treatment, a claim his lawyers now refute.
"Prosecutor Marianne Ny must ... start treating him as everybody else who is under suspicion," the lawyers wrote, paraphrasing part of the Swedish legal code which allows investigations to "be adapted to the situation in which the investigated party finds himself".
The lawyers accused the prosecutor of "passiveness" and demanded her replacement if she is not prepared to interview Assange in London.
"Assuming that the prosecutor does not have a prejudiced opinion regarding the question of guilt, and is prepared to treat the different versions objectively, it is obvious that an interrogation with Julian Assange would benefit everybody, including the injured parties," they wrote.
Two women in their thirties accused Assange of rape and sexual molestation during a high profile visit he made to Stockholm in 2010 -- at the height of his website's revelations of US military attacks on civilians in Iraq – but the case has stood still as prosecutors have been unable to question the WikiLeaks founder.
The opinion article comes in response to an op-ed penned last week by Elisabeth Massi Fritz, a lawyer representing one of Assange's accusers in which she criticized calls to close the investigation and interference in the case by politicians.
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