Assange’s “only option” is to surrender
Toronto criminal lawyer David Rose tells CTV’s Canada AM the “only option” for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange – holed up in the Equadarian embassy in London evading extradition to Sweden – is to surrender to British police. Watch David Rose on Canada AM
“If he thinks he’s going to escape out the back door and hop on a plane to Equador without the British police noticing anything, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” says Rose, a partner with Neuberger Rose LLP. “The British government has no option, they have to arrest him under the extradition treaty they have with Sweden.”
Assange has been taking refuge in the embassy for two months to avoid extradition to Sweden to face a criminal investigation on sex assault allegations.
Rose explains that while Assange has not been charged in Sweden, what happens in many contintental countries is, “the accused person has to actually answer questions. That’s the stage right now. He may not face a trial in Sweden . . . They may accept his statement. But he has to appear before the Swedish police to answer questions.”
