Despite the controversy surrounding his WikiLeaks-related work, Assange鈥檚 current legal battle is not directly related to this work. In August 2010 two WikiLeaks volunteers in Stockholm accused Assange of sexual molestation, and a Swedish public prosecutor signed an extradition request to bring him to trial in Sweden.
The legal battle taking place in London is over whether or not a public prosecutor, as opposed to a , is legally permitted to sign arrest warrants as laid out in the Extradition Act of 2003, legislation that applies to European warrants.
Assange was arrested by British police on a European warrant issued by Sweden in Dec. 2010. He was granted bail in London, but the court鈥檚 decision was appealed by Swedish prosecutors. London鈥檚 High Court heard the appeal and again granted Assange bail. However, in November 2011, Britian鈥檚 High Court decided Assange should be extradited to Sweden, a ruling Assange is appealing in British court today.
There are currently no legal charges against Assange in the US related to his role in publishing hundreds of thousands of pages of State Department cables and US military reports via WikiLeaks. However, a has been collecting evidence against Assange and his associates for months, and the US Justice Department has been investigating Assange鈥檚 work as well, reports Reuters.
