WikiLeaks founder reveals denial of rape claims given to Swedish prosecutor
Julian Assange has released the answers he allegedly gave to Swedish prosecutors six years after he was first arrested over sex allegations.
Julian Assange has released the answers he allegedly gave to Swedish prosecutors six years after he was first arrested over sex allegations.
Last month the Wikileaks founder spoke to authorities at the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he has lived since 2012 and told them he is “entirely innocent”.
It is the first time he has gone public with his version of events surrounding the rape allegation for which he was first detained in 2010.
His 19-page testimony states he had “consensual and enjoyable sex” several times with a woman referred to as SW, and contacted prosecutors when he was made aware of the rape allegation.
Within weeks a preliminary investigation found Mr Assange had committed no crime, he claims.
But a month later, as his row with the US Pentagon over Wikileaks release of confidential information intensified, he says the allegations resurfaced.
He was ordered to return to Stockholm but fears if he goes he will be extradited to the US.
In a letter accompanying the statement, Mr Assange explained that he had decided to publish his answers because he wants people to know the truth about how abusive this process has been, and also claimed that the prosecution leaked information to tabloids which politically oppose him.
It is better that my statement, which I am happy with, and which makes it obvious to all that I am innocent, sees the light in full, he wrote.
The release of Mr Assanges version of the interview comes as the Swedish prosecutors office said it would not provide immediate results of the questioning as the matter is subject to confidentiality.
Mr Assange has always denied the allegations against him, claiming that the woman in question made it very clear that she wanted to have sexual intercourse.
Mr Assange is accused of initiating sex with SW while she was asleep. Under Swedish law, this constitutes rape. He says he has a text message sent by SW showing this did not happen.
The text messages include:
On August 14, 2010, SW wrote to a friend: I want him, I want him.
On August 17, she wrote to a friend that the pair had long foreplay, but nothing happened. She later wrote that after sex had occurred, that it turned out alright other than the pregnancy and STD risk.
On August 20, SW, while at the police station, wrote that she did not want to put any charges on Julian Assange, but that the police were keen on getting their hands on him.
On August 21, she wrote that she did not want to accuse Assange for anything. And that it was the police who made the charges.
But Elizabeth Massi Fritz, the accuser`s lawyer, said Mr Assange`s assertions “seemed desperate”.
She added: The only thing I can say is that Mr Assange has low credibility, and we will prove that when prosecution arises.”
Last week Mr Assange demanded that he should be set free by the UK and Sweden after a UN panel rejected Britains request to review a ruling he was being arbitrarily detained, first issued in favour of him by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in February.