Julian Assange in August 2014. Photograph: Reuters
Sweden will begin talks with Ecuador about Julian Assange on Monday, after Stockholm moved to break the deadlock over five-year-old rape allegations against him.
Sweden initially rejected a demand by Ecuador that the two countries establish a formal agreement on judicial cooperation before Swedish prosecutors could interrogate the WikiLeaks founder in Ecuador’s embassy in London, saying it did not negotiate bilateral treaties.
But this month the government agreed to talks specifically to address the stalemate over Assange, who claimed asylum in the embassy in 2012.
Two women made allegations against Assange five years ago in Stockholm, but no charges were brought because the prosecutor said she was unable to interrogate him. Assange says he had no choice but to seek asylum as Sweden declined to guarantee that he would not be extradited to the US to face espionage charges if he travelled to Stockholm.
The political intervention by Sweden marks a new development in the case. Swedish politicians have, with very few exceptions, insisted they must not interfere, saying it is a purely judicial matter.
“We have agreed to what the Ecuadorians asked for,” said Cecilia Riddselius, the Swedish justice ministry official responsible for the case. “It was a political decision to have this discussion.
“Normally ministers cannot interfere in individual cases, it is part of our legal system, this is a strict rule. At the same time, it is under the competence of the government to enter into agreements with other states. A decision was taken to actually raise it to the level of the cabinet.”
Riddselius said the state secretary, Anne Linde, would open the negotiations on Monday on behalf of the justice ministry. The justice ministry’s director general for international affairs, Anna-Karin Svensson, the foreign ministry’s director general for legal affairs, Anders Rönquist, and Riddselius herself would also be involved. She said Ecuador’s under-secretary of state Férnando Yepez Lasso would lead the talks for Ecuador.
Ecuador’s embassy in Stockholm declined to comment, but said the makeup of its delegation was still being discussed.
“We do not normally enter into bilateral agreements and encourage states to enter multilateral ones instead,” Riddselius said. “But considering this specific case and our willingness to move the case forward, we are open to discuss this. It will be a general agreement but we hope it will be applicable to the Assange case.”
Sexual assault accusations against Assange, who has not been formally charged with any crime, expired this month under Sweden’s statute of limitations. In March Swedish prosecutors had pledged to interrogate Assange in London while the allegations were still current.
Assange condemned the “incompetence” of Swedish authorities in failing to meet this deadline after he consistently demanded that prosecutors interview him in London so he could protest his innocence. The outstanding rape allegation can be prosecuted until August 2020.
The UK accuses Ecuador of preventing the proper course of justice by granting Assange asylum in London and is frustrated at the mounting costs of policing the embassy.
As recently as July, Sweden turned down a request from the UN to consider a guarantee that political refugees wanted for questioning would not face extradition to a third country.
Riddselius said that in her 20 years at the justice ministry she had never encountered a bilateral agreement of the kind that would be negotiated on Monday. “It is new ground, very unusual, it is something we try to avoid,” she said.
The negotiations would be complex, she said, and it was impossible to say how long they might take. She said Sweden had drafted an agreement and respected Ecuador’s need to examine it thoroughly and propose changes.
Source: The Guardian