A sexual-assault arrest warrant against Julian Assange is still valid, a Swedish appeals court ruled on Friday, rejecting the WikiLeaks founder’s novel legal argument that his freedom of movement has been infringed.
Mr. Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for years, evading Swedish authorities who are pursuing charges against him stemming from an alleged 2010 incident.
“He had lodged a legal case following a decision by a United Nations Working Group in February that his confinement amounted to arbitrary detention,” noted the London Daily Telegraph in its Friday story on the development.
But it’s not the Swedish government Mr. Assange says he’s worried about.
“He believes he will be extradited to the United States to be quizzed on the activities of WikiLeaks if he travels to Sweden,” the Telegraph said.
For its part, Sweden’s Court of Appeal denies the U.N. advisory opinion is binding, saying in a ruling that the tribunal “concurs with the assessment of the Supreme Court that Julian Assange’s freedom of movement cannot be deemed to be restricted in practice in a way that is contrary to the European Convention.”
Complaining that “Sweden is not yet prepared to abide by its international obligations,” a defiant Mr. Assange said in a statement that he will appeal the ruling, the Telegraph reported.
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