Sweden wanted to withdraw its extradition request for Julian Assange in 2013

It is reported that Sweden wanted to withdraw its extradition request for Julian Assange in 2013, but was dissuaded by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service. Mr Assange has been confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012.

Sweden’s Director of Public Prosecutions Marianne Ny is said to have written to the CPS in 2013 stating that Sweden felt “obliged to lift the detention order…and to withdraw the European Arrest Warrant”, noting that “The time passing, the costs, and how service the crime is” had to be taken into account. She added that Swedish law required “coercive measures to be proportionate”.

Sweden did not ultimately withdraw its extradition request for Mr Assange until 2017.