Swedish Prosecutor Requests Assange Be Detained in Absence

(Bloomberg) -- Swedish prosecutors submitted an application to court to detain Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in his absence, according to a statement on Monday.

The request comes after Swedish prosecutors reopened a probe into rape allegations against Assange last week. There is already an extradition process in the U.K., which could lead to him being extradited to the U.S.

"In the event of a conflict between a European Arrest Warrant and a request for extradition from the U.S., U.K. authorities will decide on the order of priority," Deputy Director of Public Prosecution Eva-Marie Persson said in the statement.

"In my view the Swedish case can proceed concurrently with the proceedings in the U.K.," she said.

The Uppsala District Court, which received the application, hasn’t yet set a date for the detention hearing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Veronica Ek in Stockholm at vek@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Edith Moy at echan10@bloomberg.net, Jonas Bergman, Stephen Treloar

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