Chief prosecutor Marianne Ny speaks during a press conference on the Julian Assange rape case at the press room at the Police headquarters in Stockholm, on September 7, 2016.
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A Swedish appeals court will on Friday decide whether to maintain an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over a 2010 rape accusation which he fears could lead to his extradition to the US.
Assange has always refused to travel to Stockholm for questioning over the allegation, which he denies, due to concerns Sweden will extradite him to the United States over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Friday's hearing will be the eighth time the European arrest warrant has been tested in a Swedish court, with all seven previous rulings having gone against him.
The 45-year-old Australian sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in June 2012 after exhausting all his legal options in Britain against extradition to Sweden.
The hearing comes a day after WikiLeaks released medical records claiming Assange's mental health was at risk if he remained confined in the embassy.
"Mr Assange’s mental health is highly likely to deteriorate over time if he remains in his current situation.... It is urgent that his current circumstances are resolved as quickly as possible," said a report published by the organisation on Twitter.
The 27-page medical report accompanied by supporting documents is attributed to an unnamed "trauma and psychosocial expert" in London and dated December 11, 2015.
Assange's lawyers have urged Sweden to respect a non-binding legal opinion by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which on February 5 ruled that his confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy amounted to arbitrary detention by Sweden and Britain.
A Stockholm district court, however, rejected the finding, ruling that "Julian Assange's stay in the embassy should not be considered a detention".
It said the arrest warrant against him needed to be maintained because "there is still a risk that he will abscond or evade justice".
The appeals court will announce its decision at 11 am (0900 GMT).
Interrogation in October
Ecuador announced earlier this week that Assange had agreed to answer questions from Swedish investigators at the embassy from October 17.
The Swedish Prosecution Agency had asked that their own investigators be allowed to interrogate Assange in person, but Quito denied that request.
Instead, the Swedish prosecutors will provide their questions in writing and an Ecuadorian prosecutor will conduct the questioning.
Swedish prosecutor Ingrid Isgren and police investigator Cecilia Redell will however be allowed to be present.
The Swedish prosecution agency has defended itself against criticism that it has let the case drag on since 2010 without any progress.
Among other things, prosecutors insisted that Assange travel to Sweden to answer the allegations, although they dropped that demand in March 2015 and agreed to allow the questioning to take place in London.
Prosecutor Marianne Ny has insisted Assange was to blame for the lengthy delays.
"Mr Assange hasn't made himself available, which follows from the proceedings in Swedish courts," she told reporters on September 7.
Assange has meanwhile maintained that he has been sufficiently accommodating to Swedish justice officials.
The statute of limitations on the rape allegation expires on August 17, 2020.
Long stand-off with Swedish justice
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, after Sweden issued him with an arrest warrant over a 2010 rape accusation.
The Australian has long demanded that it be lifted, fearing that if he returns to Stockholm he will be extradited to the United States to face charges over secret documents leaked by his organisation.
The allegation
During a trip to Stockholm for a series of conferences, Assange is accused of having sex with a WikiLeaks supporter in her thirties without a condom while she was asleep on 17 August, 2010.
The statute of limitations on the rape allegation, which could lead to up to four years in prison, expires in August 2020.
An accusation of sexual misconduct by a second woman in the Swedish capital a few days earlier reached its statute of limitations in 2015.
Assange denies all allegations, insisting that the women gave their consent and that there is a political motivation for the investigations.
The proceedings
In November 2010, Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny issued a European arrest warrant for Assange to bring him back to the country for questioning.
He was arrested by British police on December 7 that year. On June 19, 2012, having failed in every attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden, the former hacker sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The small South American nation offers protection to people sought by the United States to face charges for crimes "of a political nature".
Former National Security Agency intelligence contractor Edward Snowden requested political asylum there after leaking thousands of classified documents revealing vast US surveillance.
Since entering the Ecuadorian embassy, Assange has categorically refused to travel to Sweden. In March 2015, Swedish judges agreed to allow questioning to take place in London -- fearing limitations and the charges being dropped.
A first meeting is due to take place in London on October 17 but there is no indication he will be formally questioned that day.
After the ruling
Whether the Swedish court decides to maintain or lift the warrant will have little immediate effect on Assange's situation.
If it is lifted, prosecutors are likely to appeal to the Supreme Court, which would not announce a ruling for several months. If it is maintained, Assange's lawyers will similarly launch an appeal.
And even if the Swedish warrant is ultimately lifted, the 45-year-old is liable to arrest in London for having evaded justice after his appeals against extradition were rejected, a spokesman for the British police said Thursday.
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