LONDON/STOCKHOLM, (Reuters) – The lawyer acting for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange denied yesterday that Sweden had issued a valid European arrest warrant for alleged sex crimes, despite Stockholm’s insistence that legal difficulties with the warrant were resolved.
Swedish police said earlier that technical problems hindering the arrest of the 39-year-old Australian had been ironed out, and a newspaper report said he was in Britain.
But in an interview with Reuters, his London lawyer, Mark Stephens, who would not divulge his whereabouts because of death threats against him, said no warrant valid under Swedish, European or international law had been issued.
“There is no arrest warrant against him. There was an Interpol red notice, which is not a warrant, alerting authorities to monitor his movements,” Stephens told Reuters.
“The arrest warrant was sent back by Scotland Yard (London police headquarters) because it did not comply with the law and was defective.”
Assange spends much of his time in Sweden, and earlier this year was accused of sexual misconduct by two Swedish women. Swedish prosecutors opened, then dropped, then re-opened an investigation into the allegations.
Sweden has authorized a warrant for his arrest on suspicion of sexual misconduct.
