Assange's Lawyers Want Text Messages to Alleged Rape Victim On Court Record

The lawyers insist that the text messages that the alleged victim provided to police should be read aloud during the next court hearing while the prosecutor opposes this move.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have asked Stockholm District Court to add the text messages exchanged between their client and the alleged rape victim to the court record, media reported Tuesday.

The text messages that the alleged victim provided to police show that "there is probable cause to be suspicious of the alleged crimes," lawyers Thomas Olsson and Per E. Samuelsson argue, The Local news outlet reported.

Olsson and Samuelsson insist that these messages need to be read out at the next court hearing. However, as the outlet reports, so far the prosecutor has blocked such a move.

In April, Swedish prosecutors said that they were working to keep the warrant for the arrest of the WikiLeaks founder  in place, and had not yet received permission from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to question Assange over the sexual assault allegations.

Assange has been residing at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012 out of fear of being extradited to Sweden and from there to the United States where he could face espionage charges for publishing secret US documents via WikiLeaks.