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Swedish prosecutor has decided to discontinue the investigation against Julian Assange, who has been accused of sex crimes in Sweden. If this means that Julian is free to leave the embassy to go to Ecuador or not remains to be seen.
takyon: It does not mean that Assange is free to leave the embassy at this time, although his lawyer is asking for an arrest warrant to be dropped:
The London Metropolitan Police, however, made it clear in a statement that there is an outstanding arrest warrant for Assange. "Westminster Magistrates' Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Julian Assange following him failing to surrender to the court on the 29 June 2012. The Metropolitan Police Service is obliged to execute that warrant should he leave the Embassy," it read.
The maximum penalty for breaching bail is up to a year in prison or a fine.
The police also recognized that Assange is now "wanted for a much less serious offense" and said they would "provide a level of resourcing which is proportionate to that offense."
It remains unclear whether there is a standing U.S. extradition order for Assange. The policy of Britain's Home Office is to neither confirm nor deny extradition orders until such time as a person has been arrested in relation to an order. Last month, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was stepping up efforts to arrest Assange as part of a broader fight against those who leak secrets into the public domain.
Also at BBC and The Guardian.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday May 20 2017, @07:53PM
The US hasn't made a PUBLIC formal extradition request. These things aren't done in public, after all. One of the UK articles specifically notes that the Brits don't make them public, until after an arrest is made.
I, for one, believe that there is a standing extradition agreement over Assange, between the US and the UK. The day he walks out of that embassy, he'll be grabbed, attend a couple hearings, then soon be on a plane to the US.