Summary A Swedish prosecutor issued a European arrest warrant for Assange on sexual assault charges.
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - Below are key dates in the five-year-long legal saga of Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
November 18, 2010:
A Swedish prosecutor issues a European arrest warrant for Assange on sexual assault charges involving two Swedish women. Assange denies the charges, which date back to August, and says the young women consented.
WikiLeaks starts releasing more than 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables, revealing often frank assessments of American officials on a huge range of issues as well as the views of other governments.
December 7, 2010:
Assange turns himself in to police in London and is placed in custody pending a ruling on the Swedish extradition request. Assange is later released on bail and says the Swedish rape allegations are part of a smear campaign. Under the bail conditions, he must live at a supporter s mansion in England.
February 24, 2011:
A British judge rules that Assange can be extradited to Sweden. In November Britain s High Court rejects Assange s appeal against his extradition. Assange fears Sweden will hand him over to American authorities for prosecution, which could see him face the death penalty for publishing the documents.
June 19, 2012:
Assange enters the Ecuadorian embassy in London seeking political asylum. He is allowed to stay inside under the protection of the Ecuadorian government.
October 25, 2013:
Ecuador demands that Britain provide safe conduct for Assange so that he may fly to Quito.
July 16, 2014:
A Swedish court upholds the European arrest warrant against Assange.
August 18, 2014
Assange says he will "soon" leave Ecuador s embassy. His lawyer says he will not leave the embassy until it is guaranteed he will avoid extradition to the United States.
October 29, 2014:
Swedish prosecutors say that they do not plan to go to London to question Assange over the rape allegations.
November 20, 2014:
Assange loses an appeal against the arrest warrant.
February 6, 2015:
WikiLeaks says the cost of policing Assange comes to 10 million (13 million euros, $15 million), the equivalent of 39,000 hospital beds. The police said they were spending 11,000 euros a day on surveillance.
February 25, 2015:
Lawyers for Assange file an appeal to Sweden s Supreme Court seeking to quash the arrest warrant.
March 13, 2015:
Swedish prosecutors offer to question Assange in London. Assange accepts the offer.
