The meeting between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Swedish prosecutors will be delayed for another month, Ecuador’s attorney general said Wednesday.
The 45-year-old Assange is wanted in Sweden on charges of sexual assault, but sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012. Assange maintains the charges are politically motivated, and that returning to the country could result in his extradition to the United States.
Swedish prosecutors agreed in August to a standing offer by Assange to conduct an interview with him in the embassy, which they had scheduled for this month. A spokesman for Assange said the date change was the result of a scheduling conflict for his legal team, saying in a statement that Ecuador’s attorney general granted the extension “to ensure the presence of Mr. Assange’s attorneys.”
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The statute of limitations for three lesser charges against Assange was reached in August 2015, but the rape charge will not expire until 2020.
WikiLeaks has made global headlines this year for its publication of documents hacked from key political institutions and officials associated with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. The Obama administration on Friday released a statement attributing the hacks to Russia, and explicitly named WikiLeaks as a benefactor of the attacks.
Assange has also said that he fears being killed. He canceled a scheduled media appearance last week at an embassy balcony, and decided to conduct a video interview instead. WikiLeaks tweeted a report the same day claiming Clinton had asked whether it would be possible to kill Assange with a drone strike during her term as secretary of state.
