The ruling by the Uppsala District Court does not mean the preliminary investigation must be abandoned, only that Assange does not face extradition to Sweden any time soon.

Eva-Marie Persson, Sweden’s deputy director of public prosecutions, said she has not decided whether to appeal.

“I will also issue a European Investigation Order in order to interview Julian Assange,” Persson said on Monday, adding that she has not picked a possible date for the questioning in England.

Assange’s lawyer in Sweden, Per E. Samuelsson, said his client would “be happy, we are happy” to learn he won’t be extradited to Sweden.

The 47-year-old Assange was evicted on April 11 from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he had been holed up with political asylum since 2012.

He was immediately arrested by British police and is currently serving a 50-week sentence for jumping bail in 2012.

The Australian is also fighting extradition to the United States, which accuses him of violating the Espionage Act by publishing secret documents hacked from the Pentagon containing the names of confidential military and diplomatic sources.

Last week, Assange missed a court session in Britain, reportedly due to health problems.

The allegations two Sweden women made against Assange stem from a trip to Stockholm he made in August 2010.

One of the women was involved in organising a political event and offered to host Assange at her apartment. The other woman was in the audience.

A police officer who heard the women’s accounts decided there was reason to suspect they were sex crime victims, and handed the case to a prosecutor for further investigation.

Assange has denied wrongdoing, asserting that the allegations were politically motivated and that the sex was consensual.

The part of the probe dealing with sexual misconduct was dropped in 2017 when the statute of limitations for charging Assange with that crime expired.

The rape allegation still could be prosecuted; the statute of limitations expires in August 2020.

Swedish authorities shelved the case while Assange was living at the Ecuadorian embassy since there was no prospect of bringing him to Sweden for questioning.

Assange is wanted in Sweden on suspicion of “intentionally having carried out an intercourse” with an unnamed woman “by unduly exploiting that she was in a helpless state because of sleep”, according to court documents.

Assange faces a maximum of four years in prison in Sweden if he is convicted of rape.

-AAP

Want to comment?

Send us an email, making it clear which story you’re commenting on and including your full name (required for publication) and phone number (only for verification purposes). Please put “Reader views” in the subject.

We’ll publish the best comments in a regular “Reader Views” post. Your comments can be brief, or we can accept up to 350 words, or thereabouts.

InDaily has changed the way we receive comments. Go here for an explanation.