Swedish Attorney General’s Office Questions Assange in London

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will finally face questions on Monday over allegations that he raped a woman in Stockholm in 2010. Ingrid Isgren, Sweden’s deputy chief prosecutor, arrived at 9.30am on Monday at the central London embassy where Assange has been confined since June 2012.

But another lawyer says Assange was compelled to take the opportunity to give his side of the story.

Ecuador’s United Kingdom ambassador Carlos Ortiz was in the embassy during the interview, as well as lawyers for Mr Assange. Assange denies he committed the crime.

Do you ever have any question about anything you wish to ask and get answer?

Assange had continued to operate WikiLeaks from the embassy. He says he fears being sent to the US and tried for releasing hundreds of thousands of classified documents. Also, she will receive a written transcript of the exchanges from Ecuador after the questioning concludes.

Under the agreement worked out with Ecuador, the Swedes were not allowed to question Julian Assange directly.

Swedish officials will again be present while questions they have submitted are put to the Australian by a representative of the Ecuadorian government.

A statement on behalf of the Swedish prosecutors, quoted by the Press Association, said the investigation would remain confidential.

But Samuelsson told reporters he had “high hopes” the case will be closed once the investigation is complete. But three of the four allegations have since expired, under Swedish statutes of limitations, and only the charge of rape is now being investigated.

Assange’s team complained that his Swedish counsel, Per Samuelson, “was not notified or summoned” for the start of the interview, despite being in London specifically for that very goal, and that despite “concerns” the authorities “proceeded anyway”. The spokesman added the prosecution service didn’t know how long it might take until the transcript was ready.

Assange made worldwide headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks released classified US military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff. One of them claims he coerced and raped her. Assange denies the allegations.

The president-elect said during his campaign, “I love WikiLeaks”, reveling in the organization’s release of Hillary Clinton’s hacked emails.