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The High Court in London on Wednesday confirmed the extradition to Sweden for Assange, founder of Wikileaks website, under investigation for rape and sexual assault. At trial in February, the British courts had already ruled for the extradition of Assange, an Australian national who resides in England. His lawyer said the opportunity to look again call and has two weeks for that. Any appeal to the highest British court, the Supreme Court, however, must be a legal issue considered under the public interest. The Swedish authorities want to question Assange under investigation for rape and sexual assault of two collaborators who worked for Wikileaks in August 2010. One of the accusers says Assange refused to use condoms during sexual intercourse. The other ensures that it has imposed a report without a condom while she slept. This last accusation, the least severe of the three categories of rape as defined by Swedish law, is punishable by four years in prison. This sex scandal had cast a shadow on the personality of Assange whose site has posted more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic telegrams last year. Swedish justice wants Assange be delivered to him under a European arrest warrant, a procedure introduced in 2004 to facilitate and accelerate extradition between member countries of the European Union. The defense lawyers had argued that the Swedish request was flawed and that relations with the two young women had been granted. Assange lawyers also fear that their client, once extradited to Sweden, is then transferred to the United States where he could face the death penalty for divulging state secrets. Last month, Julian Assange, on parole since December 2010 in Britain, announced that WikiLeaks would stop publishing confidential documents. He also said he would devote himself to charity because of the blockage imposed by Visa and MasterCard payments for visit. If this ban is not lifted at the end of the year, Wikileaks will stop activity, he said.
Reuters
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