Sweden drops 7-year-old rape investigation against Assange

The director of public prosecutions in Sweden has decided to drop the rape investigation into allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The move precedes Stockholm court's examination of a demand by Mr Assange's lawyers that Sweden drop his European arrest warrant.

Assange, who is 45 years old, has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 and has been trying to avoid extradition to Sweden related to the rape charges. Following which he fears he could be extradited to the US where he could face trial over the thousands of confidential military documents that his website has leaked.

According to reports, in a brief statement by the prosecutor, in this case, said: "Director of Public Prosecution, Marianne Ny, has today decided to discontinue the investigation regarding suspected rape by Julian Assange."

Assange has been denying the rape allegations and though the latest decision might bring some relief but he is still under pressure as if he leaves the embassy he could still be detained by UK police and face extradition to the US.

According to reports, soon after the news of the Swedish decision broke, Wikileaks tweeted that the focus now moves to the UK, as it has still not confirmed or denied whether it has received a US extradition warrant for the websites founder.

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