MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) refused to confirm or deny media reports that it had found WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's detention illegal before an official statement on the issue had been released.
Earlier in the day, the BBC reported that OHCHR’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention panel had decided in Assange’s favor that detaining him is illegal, meaning that the United Kingdom and Sweden would immediately have to release him and pay compensation.
"The working group is going to issue a statement tomorrow, at 11 AM Geneva time… Before that, there will be no comments, no confirmation," the OHCHR press center told Sputnik.
#Assange: We will release the opinion of UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions on Feb 5, 11am CET. We cannot confirm other info today.
— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) February 4, 2016
Assange has been residing at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012 out of fear of being extradited, first to Sweden where he has been accused of sexual assault, and ultimately to the United States where he could face espionage charges for publishing secret documents through his website.
On September 12, 2014, Assange submitted a complaint against London and Stockholm to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD).
