The Washington Times: Julian Assange provided Wednesday his first-ever public accounting of the 2010 trip to Sweden that put the WikiLeaks founder at the center of lengthy rape probe and a multinational dispute that remain active more than six years later.
Mr. Assange’s recollection of events surrounding his August 2010 trip to Stockholm emerged in the form of a 19-page transcript circulated by WikiLeaks this week containing the statement its editor offered up to investigators last month from his residence within Ecuador’s embassy in London.
In the statement, Mr. Assange claims that he had “consensual and enjoyable” sex with his accuser and is “entirely innocent.” He recalled agreeing to be tested for sexually transmitted diseases upon the woman’s request, only to learn the following day that he was being sought by law enforcement over allegations of rape.
“You can imagine my disbelief when I woke the next morning to the news that I had been arrested in my absence for ‘rape’ and that police were ‘hunting’ all over Stockholm for me,” Mr. Assange said in the statement.
Allegations against Mr. Assange, 45, surfaced shortly before his website began releasing hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables stolen from the U.S. State Department. Despite never filing charges against the WikiLeaks chief, Swedish prosecutors have sought Mr. Assange’s arrest since 2010 in order to interrogate him over the claim.
Fear of being extradited to the U.S. and incarcerated for his role with WikiLeaks has precluded Mr. Assange from traveling abroad for interrogation, however, and Ecuador’s decision to grant him political asylum has allowed him to reside within its London embassy in the intervening years without risking arrest.
