MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Sweden rejected to suspend the arrest warrant on Julian Assange’s request so that he could attend the funeral of Gavin MacFadyen, Assange’s friend and the director of the UK Center for Investigative Journalism, the WikiLeaks website said Friday.
"Sweden has rejected Mr. Assange's request to be escorted by police to the funeral of Gavin MacFadyen on Monday," the whistleblowing website said on its Twitter account.
Sweden has rejected Mr. Assange's request to be escorted by police to the funeral of Gavin MacFadyen on Monday. Also https://t.co/Mb6gXlz7QS
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) 28 октября 2016 г.
On Thursday, media reported that MacFadyen, the US investigative journalist, mentor and defender of the WikiLeaks founder Assange, died on Saturday in London at the age of 76.
Assange has been residing in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012 to not be extradited to Sweden, where he was accused of rape after WikiLeaks began to release documents in its possession.