Prosecution Cannot Confirm Probe Launched Into Assange Case Handling

The Swedish Prosecution Authority cannot confirm reports about an alleged probe launched into prosecutor Marianne Ny over her handling of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange' case.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Swedish Prosecution Authority suspects that reports on investigation reportedly launched into prosecutor Marrianne Ny over her handling of the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange case are not true, director of communications for the prosecution authority Karin Rosander told Sputnik Wednesday.

"I heard the rumors myself but so far it has not been confirmed and I strongly suspect that it’s just a rumor and it is not true," Rossander said.

Earlier in the day, Swedish media reported that a special prosecutor would be in charge of the investigation into the Assange case handling.

Meanwhile, WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told Sputnik that he has no information on such media reports.

Assange launched the WikiLeaks website in 2006. Since then, the site has released millions of classified diplomatic documents from around the world on espionage practices, war crimes, torture and many other human rights violations.

Assange was due to be extradited from the United Kingdom to Sweden on rape and sexual assault charges in 2010 and has been detained in absentia since that time. He took refuge at an Ecuadorean Embassy in London in 2012 where he was granted political asylum.

The WikiLeaks founder fears that the Swedish inquiry may be a ploy to extradite him to the United States where he could face espionage charges for publishing secret US documents through his website.