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Swedish Prosecutors Ask Court to Detain Assange in Rape Case

Swedish Prosecutors Asks Court to Detain Assange in Rape Case

(Bloomberg) -- Swedish prosecutors asked a court to detain Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to allow for his extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape allegations once he has served a 50-week sentence in the U.K. for skipping bail.

Prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson argued at Uppsala District Court north of Stockholm that Assange is a flight risk and should be detained in his absence on probable cause of suspected rape in a case based on nine-year-old accusations. The case was reopened last month after Assange was ejected from the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he had sought refuge.

The court will issue its decision around 4 p.m. local time.

Swedish Prosecutors Ask Court to Detain Assange in Rape Case

Prosecutors are seeking to question Assange before they decide whether to press charges. Should the court rule in favor of the prosecution, authorities will issue an arrest warrant and demand Assange be sent to Sweden to face questioning. That could potentially derail his extradition to the U.S., which last month charged Assange with 18 counts related to endangering national security by conspiring to obtain and disclose classified information.

Assange, who is currently held at the U.K.’s Belmarsh jail, denies the charges and is also contesting that there are grounds for detention, his lawyer, Per Samuelson, told the court. There’s no flight risk at the moment since Assange is being held at Belmarsh, he said.

The only reason for Sweden to detain Assange is to compete with the U.S., he said, arguing that he can be questioned in prison via a video link.

To contact the reporter on this story: Amanda Billner in Stockholm at abillner@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net, Tasneem Hanfi Brögger

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