Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, will be questioned in the London-based Ecuadorian embassy on November 14 over an allegation of rape dating back to 2010.
45-year-old Julian Assange has taken refuge in the same embassy since 2012.
According to The Guardian, Assange has welcomed the news though his lawyer and said that he was looking forward to the “chance to clear his name”.
The Swedish authorities said one of the prosecutors on the case, Ingrid Isgren, as well as a Swedish police inspector, would also attend the questioning next week and report the findings to Sweden.
“A DNA sample will also be taken, provided that Julian Assange agrees to it,” the prosecutor’s office said.
The whistleblower sought refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London in June 2012, fleeing allegations of rape and sexual assault in Sweden dating back to 2010.
Julian Assange, however, has denied all these allegations.
The Australian national claims he refused to travel to Sweden for questioning because he feared extradition to the US over WikiLeaks’ release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“We have requested this interview repeatedly since 2010,” his lawyer, Per Samuelsson, said. “Julian Assange has always wanted to tell his version to the Swedish police. He wants a chance to clear his name. We hope the investigation will be closed then.”
WikiLeaks has returned to the spotlight in recent weeks with the damaging leak of tens of thousands of e-mails from the US Democratic party and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
(With IANS inputs)
