--- title: Sweden Drops Sexual Assault Probe Against Wikileaks' Julian Assange description: Prosecutors say they have abandoned their investigation into sexual assault allegations against Julian Assange canonical: https://time.com/3995610/sweden-wikileaks-julian-assange-rape-sexual-assault/ author: Alissa Greenberg article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-13T09:47:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:49:29.727Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sweden Drops Sex Assault Investigation on Julian Assange og:description: He still faces a more serious rape allegation og:url: https://time.com/3995610/sweden-wikileaks-julian-assange-rape-sexual-assault/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cea34f906097981/69885f0a196cf4097303786f/rtr42sl5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3417 og:image:height: 1922 og:image:alt: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks during a news conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in central London og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sweden Drops Sex Assault Investigation on Julian Assange twitter:description: He still faces a more serious rape allegation twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cea34f906097981/69885f0a196cf4097303786f/rtr42sl5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sweden Drops Sexual Assault Investigation Against WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ccb216bf-fafd-4984-bbd7-9cbff40c95d4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Global Risks You Should Care About Right Now [Watch (HLS stream): Global Risks You Should Care About Right Now](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PqXWqYtA.m3u8) (4:20)  _Published 2015-01-13. A yearly look ahead about what you should—and shouldn’t—worry about in the geopolitical and economic landscape for 2015_ by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Aug 13, 2015 9:47 AM UTC  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (R) speaks as Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patino listens, during a news conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in central London August 18, 2014 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (R) speaks as Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Minister Ricardo Patino listens, during a news conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in central London August 18, 2014 John Stillwell—Reuters by [Alissa Greenberg](https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/) ## Alissa Greenberg Aug 13, 2015 9:47 AM UTC Swedish prosecutors have [dropped](https://twitter.com/AFP/status/631761908232781824) their investigation into two sexual assault allegations — one of sexual molestation and the other of coercion — against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange due to the country’s statute of limitations, AFP reports. Assange is still facing a more serious rape allegation, which will not expire until 2020, [according](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33894757) to the BBC. Under Swedish law, an individual may not be formally charged with a crime until he or she is questioned. As investigators were not able to question Assange before the two deadlines passed this week, the investigation has been ended. They were not able to question Assange, who founded the whistleblower organization WikiLeaks, because he has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012\. He claimed asylum there in order to avoid extradition to Sweden, saying he fears he will then be further extradited to the U.S. to stand trial for releasing classified documents. He denies all the assault allegations. Discussions continue between Sweden, Ecuador, and the U.K. regarding the circumstances under which Assange might be questioned about the remaining rape accusation, the BBC says. Assange has said he would be willing to be interviewed by videolink from the embassy, but no agreement has yet been reached. The U.K. argues that Ecuador must allow Assange to be extradited both to fulfill what they characterize as a legal obligation and to resolve what has become a very expensive situation. The BBC reports that the cost of maintaining police personnel around the Ecuadorian embassy over the past three years stands at nearly $19 million. \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33894757)\] ## Transcript [00:00] [ MUSIC ] [00:05] The global economy has four engines, US Europe, Japan, [00:10] China / Emerging Markets. Of these four engines, the only [00:12] one that was really humming along fine. Is probably US [00:16] slash United Kingdom, Canada. Euro zone is stalling. [00:19] They're one step away from deflation and other recession. [00:23] China is slowing down. Other emerging markets are [00:26] slowing down. So the, one of the [ UNKNOWN ] question is [00:29] will the US be able to decouple from the rest of the world. In [00:32] a world in which actually other country are slowing down, [00:34] the dollar is becoming stronger and so on. So far looks like [00:37] yes. But if the shocks from the rest of the world would [00:40] become worse. Then when have to ask the question [00:42] whether that's gonna have an impact on the United States. [00:46] [ MUSIC ] The US is absolutely becoming much more [00:49] unilateral. In 2015 I think is the first year. Where we really [00:54] are starting to see the United States employ really so [00:58] much more of the 21st century tools [01:03] of national security to get what America wants. It's not [01:06] boots on the ground. That sounds almost quaint. And [01:09] everybody opposes these days, it's drones, it's [01:13] surveillance, and access to US markets as both a carrot [01:16] and a stick, what I call the weaponization of finance. The [01:20] United States is saying a lot more, hey, Afghanistan, [01:24] Iraq. Speaker: [ MUSIC ] Syria. We know you have serious [01:27] problems. But those problems are gonna be resolved, first [01:29] and foremost, by you, on the ground. Not by the United [01:32] States. [ MUSIC ] Speaker: I wanna [01:37] ask you about your thoughts in the Middle East, and [01:40] sectarian conflict. And where are we in this curve? I mean, [01:43] are we at the apex of ISIS? Are we, are things going to get [01:47] better, are they gonna get worse? Speaker: I think we are [01:49] at the apex. Of the Islamic state and its [01:53] capacities in Iraq and even Syria. I think the [01:57] amount of international effort militarily being deployed [02:00] against them supported by, military on the ground from [02:05] the Syrian government, Syrian Army as well as from the [02:07] Kurds and from the Iraqi government absolutely is turning [02:11] the tide. Won't wipe them out. Taking them out of Mosul I [02:15] don't see happening for maybe years. But generally [02:18] speaking I don't think that they're they're not going they're [02:20] not gonna have something that really looks like an [02:23] effective state anytime [02:27] soon. The downside in Russia might be the biggest [02:31] surprise. US policy towards Russia is really oriented [02:35] towards not punishing the Russian people but punishing [02:37] Putin. It's going after the oligarchs that are around him. It's [02:40] trying to change his behavior by undermining his support. [02:42] He understands that. He calls it regime change. He will hit [02:45] back. The United States historically has not had to pay [02:48] attention to people that we didn't like, because if we [02:50] punished them and they didn't like it, they couldn't do much [02:52] to damage us. That's changing. And I absolutely worry [02:56] about a major Russian cyber attack against let's say an [02:59] American financial institution. I absolutely worry about an [03:02] accident or a European commercial airliner over European [03:05] air space. And a Russian military jet. Those kinds of things [03:08] I think in 2015 are becoming a very live concern. [03:14] Xi Jinping leader of China is consolidating power and [03:18] there's a couple of story lines about what this means. One [03:22] is that he's the new Deng and this is all part of this sort of [03:25] greater strategy to. Take China through the next wave of [03:28] reforms that it needs to make the jump to a middle income [03:31] country. The other story line is that he's Mao. And [03:35] it's interesting. [ LAUGH ] That you know, the, there is [03:37] Maoist rhetoric emerging in China right now. Which is he, [03:41] and what does it mean for the Chinese economy, [03:44] [ INAUDIBLE ]? well, my view as a combination of both I, I [03:47] think on China, there's two extreme views. Either there's [03:50] gonna be a soft landing, 7 % plus growth, or 3 % growth [03:53] and hard landing. I think it's gonna be something between [03:56] because he's gonna have to do reforms. But because of [03:58] the political constraints, the reform are gonna be more [04:01] slowly. Than is desirable and optimal, and eventually there [04:04] will be a slow down of growth in China. Consequences of [04:06] now the second largest, or maybe the first largest, [04:09] economy in the world slowing down to 5 1 / 2 % is gonna [04:12] be significant, for China, for Asia, for commodity exporters, [04:16] for the global economy. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3995610/sweden-wikileaks-julian-assange-rape-sexual-assault/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3995610/sweden-wikileaks-julian-assange-rape-sexual-assault/"},"headline":"Sweden Drops Sexual Assault Investigation Against WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange","datePublished":"2015-08-13T09:47:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:49:29.727Z","description":"He still faces a more serious rape allegation","url":"https://time.com/3995610/sweden-wikileaks-julian-assange-rape-sexual-assault/","keywords":["sweden","Rape","Sexual Assault","Surveillance","asylum","Julian Assange","WikiLeaks","whistleblower","Ecuador"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cea34f906097981/69885f0a196cf4097303786f/rtr42sl5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alissa Greenberg","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alissa-greenberg/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3cea34f906097981/69885f0a196cf4097303786f/rtr42sl5.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks during a news conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in central London","caption":"WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks during a news conference at the Ecuadorian embassy in central London","creditText":"John Stillwell—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/sweden/","name":"sweden"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3995610/sweden-wikileaks-julian-assange-rape-sexual-assault/","name":"Sweden Drops Sexual Assault Investigation Against WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Global Risks You Should Care About Right Now","description":"A yearly look ahead about what you should—and shouldn’t—worry about in the geopolitical and economic landscape for 2015","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/PqXWqYtA/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-01-13T22:16:32.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/PqXWqYtA.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3995610/sweden-wikileaks-julian-assange-rape-sexual-assault/","duration":"PT4M20S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3995610/sweden-wikileaks-julian-assange-rape-sexual-assault/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```