Lawyers to Seek International Support to Guarantee Assange's Freedom

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Lawyers of WikiLeaks whistleblowing website founder Julian Assange will be seeking international support to guarantee their client's freedom, Assange's Spanish lawyer Baltasar Garzon told RT broadcaster in an interview, published on Saturday.

On Friday, Swedish prosecutors confirmed dropping the long-running rape investigation against Assange. UK police, on the other hand, have insisted that they would still have to arrest the WikiLeaks founder for past violations of bail conditions if he stepped out of the Ecuadorian embassy, where he has been holed up for years.

"Frankly speaking, we still do not know, when [Assange leaves the embassy of Ecuador in London]. We will again seek the support of the United Nations and other authorities, as well as the UK government. Ecuador is trying to do the same, and I hope it will take place soon," Garzon said.

According to Garzon, it was completely unfair to launch the probe into Assange's alleged sexual crime, as there were not enough evidence for that.

Assange has been residing at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012 for fear of being extradited to Sweden on sexual abuse allegations. On December 4, 2015, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's (WGAD) ruled that Assange's detention was arbitrary. The United Kingdom and Sweden refused to recognize the legitimacy of the decision and to end Assange's prosecution.