It’s been about eight months since Julian Assange told us he would leave the Ecuadorean embassy in London “soon,” and now he may be one step closer to making that happen. Swedish prosecutors have offered to come to the embassy to interview the WikiLeaks founder on five-year-old rape and sexual misconduct charges. Lead prosecutor Marianne Ny said she always felt that talking to Assange in London would “lower the quality of the interview,” but she has to move on the case because the statute of limitations runs out in August.
Assange denies the allegations and has said he believes he’ll be extradited to the U.S. to face espionage charges if he leaves the embassy. He’s expected to accept the Swedish officials’ offer. “This is something we’ve demanded for over four years,” his lawyer, Per Samuelson, told the Associated Press. “Julian Assange wants to be interviewed so he can be exonerated. So of course we welcome this.”
