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A Swedish lower court upheld on Wednesday the arrest warrant for illegally "detained" WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, saying the stay at Ecuador's London embassy did not equal detention.
"The district court finds that there is still probable cause for the suspicion against JA (Julian Assange) for rape, less serious incident, and that there is still a risk that he will depart or in some other way evade prosecution or penalty," the court said in a statement.
One of Assange's Swedish lawyers, Thomas Olsson, said the decision will in all likelihood be appealed.
Assange, 44, is wanted by Swedish authorities for questioning over allegations, which he denies, that he committed rape in 2010.
The internationally renowned journalist, who enraged U.S. authorities by publishing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables exposing massive violations to international law and covert violations of various countries' sovereignties, has been illegally holed up in the embassy since June 2012.
In March, Ecuador spoke out against the hypocrisy of the United Nations over the illegal detention of Assange.
"Since its creation, this (Human Rights) Council has been the most representative forum for debate and international agreements on human rights around the world,” said Maria Fernanda Espinosa, Ecuador’s ambassador to the United Nations.
“However, when the transgressions of these rights are carried out by certain politically and economically influential countries, cases are generally not discussed or they are downplayed, which creates an asymmetry that needs to be rectified,” she added in a statement.
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A U.N. panel found last month that Assange, who has found refuge in London’s Ecuadorian embassy since 2012, was arbitrarily detained by Sweden and the United Kingdom. No action has been taken to free Assange, but academics,lawyers and politicians have demanded that the European countries respect the United Nations ruling.
“The countries that are involved in this violation are also in breach of the right to health, Mr. Assange's physical and psychological integrity is impacted as he has not received adequate medical treatment since the commencement of his confinement at the Embassy of Ecuador in London where he has asylum," said Espinosa.
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Last year, Sweden's Supreme Court rejected a previous appeal by Assange to revoke a detention order.
Following a statement by a U.N. panel that his stay in the embassy amounts to arbitrary detention, Assange's lawyers again in February asked the Stockholm District Court to overturn the warrant for his arrest.
In 2010, WikiLeaks released more than 90,000 secret documents on the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan, followed by almost 400,000 U.S. military reports detailing operations in Iraq. Those disclosures were followed by release of millions of diplomatic cables dating back to 1973.
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