Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority were the set of legal proceedings in the United Kingdom concerning the requested extradition of Julian Assange to Sweden for a "preliminary investigation" into accusations of sexual offences allegedly made in August 2010. Assange left Sweden in September 2010 and was arrested in his absence the same day. He was suspected of rape of a lesser degree, unlawful coercion and multiple cases of sexual molestation. In June 2012, Assange breached bail and sought refuge at Ecuador's Embassy in London and was granted asylum.
On 12 August 2015, Swedish prosecutors announced that the statute of limitations had expired for three of the allegations against Assange while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy. The investigation into the rape allegation was also dropped by Swedish authorities on 19 May 2017 because of Assange's asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy. Assange said in these proceedings that he feared he would ultimately be extradited to the United States if he were sent to Sweden.
In May 2019, the Swedish Prosecution Authority reopened the investigation against Assange. The prosecutors expressed the intent to extradite Assange from the United Kingdom after he served his 50-week prison sentence for skipping bail. In June 2019, the Uppsala District Court denied a request to detain Assange, thereby preventing his extradition to Sweden.
As of 19 November 2019 the prosecution dropped the case because "the evidence has weakened considerably due to the long period of time that has elapsed" although they were confident in the complainant.
Background and accusations
On 11 August 2010, Julian Assange flew to Stockholm. According to the police report, arranged Assange's trip to Sweden and he stayed at her flat while she was out of town. She returned on 13 August and went out for a meal with Assange before returning to her flat with him. According to her account, which Assange disputes, he began pulling off her clothes. Ardin told police she didn't want to "but that it was too late to stop Assange as she had gone along with it so far", and so she let him to undress her. Ardin told police she realised he was trying to have unprotected sex with her, held her down and stopped her from reaching for a condom before agreeing to use it, but she said he had "done something" to it that made it rip, which he denied.
On 14 August, Assange spoke at a seminar organised by Ardin. Miss W met Assange at the seminar and had lunch with him, Ardin, the co-ordinator of the Swedish WikiLeaks group and a few others. Ardin had a party for Assange that evening and later said that "Julian is in many ways a fantastic person," but adding that "the Julian who took part in the [party] is totally different from the one who humiliated and abused me the previous evening." One of her friends, "Monica", later told police that during the party Ardin told her about the ripped condom and unprotected sex. Another friend told police that during the party Ardin described the sex she had with Assange: "Not only had it been the world's worst screw, it had also been violent." The next day, Ardin told Monica she thought Assange had ripped the condom on purpose.
On 16 August, Miss W phoned Assange and arranged to meet him and go back to her flat outside Stockholm. She told police they started to have sex, but he didn't want to wear a condom and lost interest when she didn't want to have unprotected sex. Later that night they had consensual sex and "he agreed unwillingly to use a condom". Early the next morning, she awoke to discover him having sex with her, and when asked he said he wasn't wearing a condom. She contacted Assange and asked him to take a test for STDs, and he refused on the grounds that he did not have time.
After being allegedly sexually assaulted by Assange, she wanted to contact him to take a test for sexually transmitted infections. She contacted Ardin, the lecture organiser to get help reaching Assange. When they spoke to each other, they realised they had a similar experience and decided to go to the police together to ask for advice.
On 18 August 2010, Assange applied for a work and residence permit in Sweden. Ardin later told police that that morning he exposed himself to her and rubbed against her, an act which Swedish authorities characterized as Assange having "deliberately molested" her.