--- 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 ## 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, 2014John 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. \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-33894757)\] ```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":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/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"}}] ```