Swedish move to question Assange welcomed by Ecuador

“The interview with Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London has ended”, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said in a statement.

“As a result of six years of delays and over four and a half years of illegal and arbitrary detention, Mr Assange is today faced with [a] Hobson’s choice”, Melinda Taylor, a member of Assange’s legal team, told Reuters.

Ingrid Isgren, Swedens deputy chief prosecutor, arrived at the small central London embassy at 9.30am, accompanied by another woman, where she was met by dozens of photographers and film crews.

Prosecutors have said they will seek to take a DNA sample from Assange, if he agrees. He hasn’t been indicted.

Swedish prosecutors dropped part of their investigation previous year because of a statute of limitations.

According to officials, no immediate decision on the future of Assange’s case will be made on Monday.

“Mr Assange’s Swedish defence counsel had travelled to London in the hope of being able to attend”. Assange denies he committed the crime. He said Assange was being “hounded” because of WikiLeaks’ work in shedding light on the “terrible things” done by the USA government and others. It isn’t known if he faces a secret grand jury indictment in the U.S.

Mr Assange is accused of raping a woman, named in legal papers as SW, at her home in August 2010.

Assange, who has been holed up in the embassy in London since 2012, is being interviewed by Swedish prosecutors over allegations he assaulted two women in 2010.

Last year, Sweden dropped investigations into other allegations against Mr Assange.

Assange’s lawyer said he had made “repeated requests” for an interview with police to address the rape claim, though Ecuadoran prosecutors say a hearing scheduled for October was postponed at the Australian’s request.

The process could take three days, then the Swedish prosecutor will have to decide the next move. Sweden has issued an arrest warrant for him, which he has appealed against.

A small group of supporters stood opposite the embassy, holding up banners calling for the WikiLeaks founder to be freed.

He has been living in the embassy for over four years and has been granted political asylum by Ecuador.

In fact, Julian Assange was recently blamed for interfering with the presidential elections, since his organizations released thousands of classified information about Hillary Clinton after they get private emails of her campaign chairman, John Podesta.