About a month after his arrest in London on an extradition warrant, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing more legal troubles.
On Monday, authorities in Sweden announced they would be reopening an investigation into allegations the WikiLeaks founder sexually assaulted a woman in 2010.
The rape investigation, which was initially dropped two years ago because prosecutors they felt unable to make progress while Assange was located in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, is being reopened because there is “probable cause to suspect” the 47-year-old committed the alleged rape, Swedish authorities said.
“Now that he has left Ecuador’s embassy, the conditions in the case have changed and the conditions are in place once again to pursue the case,” Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions, Eva-Marie Persson, said at a news conference.
Persson also said European arrest warrant would now be issued for Assange.
He is currently being held at Belmarsh prison in London has already been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for violating his bail conditions.
In a statement, Wikileaks editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson said the reopening of the case would give Assange “a chance to clear his name.”
“There has been considerable political pressure on Sweden to reopen their investigation, but there has always been political pressure surrounding this case,” Hrafnsson said.
Assange has always maintained his innocence with regard to the rape allegation.
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