Julian Assange to be questioned in Britain

LONDON: Four years after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took refuge in the Ecuador embassy in central London, Swedish prosecutors have agreed to his demand that

LONDON: Four years after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took refuge in the Ecuador embassy in central London, Swedish prosecutors have agreed to his demand that he be questioned in a sexual assault case inside the mission.

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The development, revealed in an official statement in Ecuador, may lead to a breakthrough to end the imbroglio that cost Scotland Yard millions of pounds in security outside the embassy.

Assange is the subject of a European arrest warrant, which UK is obliged to implement. If he steps out of the embassy, he faces arrest and extradition to Sweden. Ecuador’s attorney general is reported to have delivered a document agreeing to a request by the Swedish prosecutor to question Assange, who is wanted over a rape allegation that he has denied. Assange has refused to travel to Sweden to face the allegation as he believes he will be taken to the US because of the many leaks of classified documents by WikiLeaks.

The statement issued in Ecuador said: “In the coming weeks a date will be established for the proceedings to be held at the embassy of Ecuador in the United Kingdom.”