Woman who claims she was raped by Julian Assange 'hopes justice will win' as Swedish prosecutors re-open sex attack case into WikiLeaks founder

The woman who claims she was raped by Julian Assange said today she 'hopes justice will win' after Swedish prosecutors reopened the rape investigation into the WikiLeaks founder.

Swedish authorities today said they still want to speak to Assange over claims he raped a woman while in the country in 2010 and will apply to extradite him from Britain, where he is currently in jail.

After the decision was announced, a lawyer for Assange's alleged victim said that her client hoped justice would prevail.

Elisabeth Massi Fritz, who is representing the woman, said: 'My client feels great gratitude and she is very hopeful about getting restitution and we both hope that justice will win.'

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Swedish prosecutors today announced they have reopened an investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (pictured, on his way to prison earlier this month)

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Elisabeth Massi Fritz, the lawyer representing a woman who alleges that she was raped by Julian Assange, holds a press conference in Stockholm today

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Ms Fritz said today that her client 'feels great gratitude and she is very hopeful about getting restitution and we both hope that justice will win'

Lawyer of woman in Assange rape investigation 'hopes justice will win'

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Ms Fritz says the decision by Swedish authorities to open the rape case against Assange 'signals that no one stands above the law,' and that 'the legal system in Sweden doesn't give a special treatment to anyone.' 

She added: 'We believe the evidence is good enough that it must be tested.'

Ms Fritz spoke on behalf of her unnamed client after Swedish prosecutors reopened the rape case, meaning both Sweden and the US will now have competing claims to extradite Assange from Britain.

Deputy director of public prosecutions Eva-Marie Persson said 'There is still a probable cause to suspect that Assange committed a rape'. She added: 'It is my assessment that a new questioning of Assange is required.'

She told how it is 'impossible to predict' which country he would be sent to first, and it is up to UK authorities to decide.

With Assange's extradition to Sweden having already been passed by a British court, the US may now be forced to apply to Sweden to get hold of the Australian after he has faced court in Scandinavia.

Following the decision, WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson insisted 'there has always been political pressure surrounding this case' and the case has been mishandled throughout'.

Mr Hrafnsonn continued: 'Since the investigation was closed in 2017, we have received reports of the destruction of records and correspondence on behalf of UK and Swedish authorities, surely an impediment to a thorough investigation.

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Sweden's deputy chief prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson announced the decision at a press conference in Stockholm today. It means both the U.S. and Sweden will now ask Britain to extradite Assange to their countries

'Assange was always willing to answer any questions from the Swedish authorities and repeatedly offered to do so, over six years. The widespread media assertion that Assange 'evaded' Swedish questioning is false.

'This investigation has been dropped before and its reopening will give Julian a chance to clear his name.' 

 Swedish prosecutors dropped a rape investigation in 2017 because they were unable to proceed while he remained holed up in London's Ecuadorean Embassy.

Assange also faced investigation for a second sex-related allegation, which was dropped in 2015 because time had run out. Assange denies the claims.

Assange, now 47, met the women in connection with a lecture in August 2010 in Stockholm. 

One was involved in organizing an event for Sweden's center-left Social Democratic Party and offered to host Assange at her apartment. The other was in the audience.

A police officer who heard the women's accounts decided there was reason to suspect they were victims of sex crimes and handed the case to a prosecutor. Neither of the alleged victims has been named publicly.

In another blow for Assange, the government of Ecuador has reportedly agreed to hand over the belongings he left at their embassy to the U.S. 

The embassy will hand over 'all his documents, mobile phones, computer files, computers, memory units, CDs and any other device', according to Spain's El Pais newspaper 

The former hacker faces extradition to the United States over the activities of WikiLeaks. 

After he was dragged out of the embassy last month, a lawyer for one of the women involved in the Swedish investigation, asked for it to be resumed.

Assange has been visited by Pamela Anderson and a United Nations official in high security Belmarsh Prison this week. He is serving a 50-week sentence for failing to attend court. 

In relation to the U.S. investigation, former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning yesterday said she'll refuse to testify before a second grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.

But if a judge finds her in contempt of court again, she could wind up back in jail.

Manning spent seven years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks. She walked free in May 2017 after President Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence.

Recently, she spent two months in jail for refusing to answer one grand jury's questions about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Now, a second grand jury has subpoenaed her.

She told CNN's 'Reliable Sources' on Sunday that she has nothing more to offer than what she's already provided in her own case.

US prosecutors announced this month that Assange had been charged with conspiring with Manning to infiltrate a Pentagon computer.

The charge carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment and relates to Assange's 'alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information' in US history, the court heard.

Prosecutors claim he assisted Manning in cracking a password to help her leak classified records to the whistleblowing website.

Classified documents allegedly downloaded included approximately 90,000 Afghan war-related significant activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related significant activity reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessments and 250,000 US State Department cables, the court heard.

What happens now? Today's statement by Sweden's deputy director of prosecutions

Eva-Marie Persson said: 'The prosecutor will shortly request that Julian Assange be detained in his absence suspected on probable cause for an allegation of rape from August 2010.

'To be able to execute a detention order, the prosecutor will issue a European Arrest Warrant. An application for a detention order will be submitted to Uppsala District Court, as the suspected crime took place in Enkoping municipality.

'On account of Julian Assange leaving the Ecuadorian embassy, the circumstances in this case have changed. I take the view that there exists the possibility to take the case forward.

'Julian Assange has been convicted of a crime in the UK and will serve 25 weeks of his sentence before he can be released, according to information from UK authorities.

'I am well aware of the fact that an extradition process is ongoing in the UK and that he could be extradited to the US.

'In the event of a conflict between a European Arrest Warrant and a request for extradition from the US, UK authorities will decide on the order of priority. The outcome of this process is impossible to predict.

'However, in my view the Swedish case can proceed concurrently with the proceedings in the UK. Reopening the investigation means that a number of investigative measures will take place.

'In my opinion a new interview with the suspect is required. It may be necessary, with the support of a European Investigation Order, to request an interview with Julian Assange be held in the UK. Such an interview, however, requires Julian Assange's consent.'