After 2 Years of Confinement, Will Sweden Resolve Assange's Case? Swedish Foreign Minister Won't Say

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt refuses to address questions from Democracy Now!'s Amy Goodman about the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is wanted for questioning in Sweden on allegations of sexual offenses. Assange's attorneys recently asked the Swedish government to withdraw a warrant that has kept him confined in Ecuador's London embassy for two years. Assange has voiced fears he would ultimately be sent for prosecution in the United States if he were to return to Sweden. Assange's attorneys say the warrant should be lifted because it cannot be enforced while Assange is in the embassy and Swedish prosecutors refuse to question him in London. Although Assange faces a warrant for questioning, he has not been formally charged. Fiftynine international organizations have submitted reports to the United Nations challenging Sweden's treatment of Assange. Speaking at the Almedalen political festival in Visby, Bildt refuses to address the case directly, saying it is an issue for the Swedish judicial system, not its political one. We get reaction to Bildt's comments from a legal advisor to Assange, Jen Robinson, who also discusses the parallels between Assange and National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. "We are now seeing a trend of whistleblowers, publishers, journalists, having to seek asylum and refuge in countries around the world because of their concern about prosecution in the United States," Robinson says.

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