Assange hopes Sweden will drop case against him

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Assange hopes Sweden will drop case against him

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Britain says it is legally obliged to extradite Assange to Sweden.

31 August,2012 09:34 am

Julian Assange expects to wait sixmonths to a year for a deal to free him from Ecuadors embassyin London, and hopes Sweden will drop its case against him, theWikiLeaks founder said in an interview.The former computer hacker has been holed up at the embassyfor more than two months, seeking to avoid being sent to Swedenfor questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations - andtriggering a diplomatic spat with Britain.Talks over Assanges fate resumed this week, and Ecuadorsgovernment said it was optimistic it will be able to strike adeal with Britain for Assange to receive guarantees he would notbe further extradited from Sweden to the United States.Ecuador granted him asylum earlier this month saying that itshares his fears that he could face charges in the United Statesover the publication in 2010 by WikiLeaks of thousands of secretU.S. diplomatic cables.I think the situation will be solved through diplomacy ...The Swedish government could drop the case. I think this is themost likely scenario. Maybe after a thorough investigation ofwhat happened they could drop the case, Assange told EcuadorsGama television network in comments dubbed into Spanish.I think this will be solved in between six and 12 months;thats what I estimate, he said in the interview, which wasrecorded earlier this week inside the embassy.Britain says it is legally obliged to extradite Assange toSweden, and that it will not allow the 41-year-old Australian toleave the embassy and travel to the South American country.But Ecuadors Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said onWednesday he was optimistic the British government would agreeto give Assange written guarantees that he would not beextradited from Sweden to any third country.Ecuador has said that if Assange received such assurances,he would decline its offer of asylum and hand himself over toSwedish prosecutors. Asked during the interview if he couldtravel to Sweden under those conditions, he was non-committal.At some point, if the way has been paved ... it would notbe correct to hold me in prison (in Sweden) without charges.He did not mention the allegations of rape and sexualassault made against him by two WikiLeaks supporters in 2010.A veiled British threat to enter the embassy to arrestAssange angered Ecuadors President Rafael Correa. But theleftist leader said last weekend that the threat had later beenlifted and he considered the unfortunate incident over. In another sign of thawing tensions, Ecuadors VicePresident Lenin Moreno met British Foreign Secretary WilliamHague on Wednesday, but any deal looks likely to take time.Given Ecuadors position on what they call diplomaticasylum and our very clear legal position, such a solution is notin sight at the moment, Hague told the BBC on Thursday.