Swedish police will question WikiLeaks founder over alleged molestation – but a second case against him has been dropped

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange no longer faces sex abuse charges in Sweden, after the country's chief prosecutor decided to investigate only one of two complaints against him, and not as a sexual offence.

Assange – who has denied both accusations – is still suspected of molesting a woman on August 13, but molestation is not a sex crime under Swedish law, said Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Prosecution Authority.

It covers a wide range of offences, including reckless conduct or inappropriate physical contact with another adult, and can result in fines or up to one year in prison.

Sweden's chief prosecutor Eva Finne formally closed another case involving a woman who claimed Assange had raped her. Finne had dismissed the rape charge over the weekend, and recalled a short-lived arrest warrant, before deciding on Wednesday that the case couldn't be prosecuted as any other type of sex crime either.

"The investigation is therefore closed in regard to this complaint since there is no suspicion of a crime," Finne said in a statement.

Assange was in Sweden partly to seek legal protection for WikiLeaks, an online whistleblower that has angered the Obama administration by publishing thousands of leaked documents about US military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. The group says it has computer servers in Sweden and other countries.

Assange suggested that the accusations, coming as WikiLeaks prepares to release a new batch of classified documents, were part of a smear campaign. In an interview with a Swedish newspaper, Assange pointed a finger at the Pentagon, which has warned WikiLeaks that the leaked documents could endanger US soldiers and their Afghan helpers.

Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon's press secretary, said on Sunday called Assange's charges "absurd."

The lawyer representing both women, Claes Borgstrom, also dismissed any foreign involvement in their complaints.

"There is not an ounce of truth in all this about Pentagon, or the CIA, or smear campaigns. Nothing like it," Borgstrom told Swedish news agency TT.

Borgstrom criticised the prosecutor's decision, saying both complaints should be investigated as sex crimes.

Investigators have not released details about either case, though a police report obtained by the Associated Press shows both women had befriended Assange in connection with a seminar he gave in Stockholm on August 14.

The report shows they filed their complaints together six days later.

An on-call prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Assange on suspicion of rape later that day, but Finne revoked it within 24 hours.

Assange's lawyer Leif Silbersky lashed out at prosecutors for the way they handled the case, especially that they identified his client by name to the media.

"He has been cast as a rapist, labelled as a rapist and the international press have described him as a suspected rapist. Now he has ended up in a situation where they have dispelled the sexual parts, and what remains is molestation," Silbersky said.