BRUSSELS
Swedish prosecutors dropped on Thursday three investigations into sexual assault against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange because they ran out of time to question him over the charges.
However, Assange still faces rape allegations and the prosecutors said they would continue their investigation into the 2010 rape charges against him.
Prosecutors have five years to bring charges against Assange over rape allegations.
"I have since fall 2010 tried to obtain a permit to question Julian Assange but he has consequently kept away," prosecutor Marianne Ny said in a statement on Thursday.
WikiLeaks on its official Twitter account tweeted a statement on Thursday on behalf of Assange, who contradicted Ny’s stance.
In the statement posted on the website "justice4assange.com," the Wikileaks founder expressed his "extreme disappointment".
“I am an innocent man. I haven’t even been charged. From the beginning I offered a simple solution. Come to the embassy to take my statement or promise not to send me to the United States. This Swedish official refused both."
“She even refused a written statement. Now she has managed to avoid hearing my side of the story entirely. This is beyond incompetence. I am strong but the cost to my family is unacceptable,” Assange said in the statement.
Swedish prosecutors had previously demanded that Assange come to Sweden for questioning about the 2010 allegations and claim they offered in March to question him in London.
Assange took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London on June 19, 2012, in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden. Ecuador granted Assange political asylum in 2012, despite pressure from Britain.
The Australian hacker fears if Britain extradites him to Sweden, then he would be extradited to the U.S. for releasing thousands of highly confidential documents on WikiLeaks.
