British prosecutors admitted they deleted crucial emails relating to the case against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

Assange, 46, has been holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition for rape allegations against him that were filed in Sweden. The country dropped the case and investigation into Assange in May. Assange remained at the embassy, fearing he would be extradited to the U.S. after leaking the Chelsea Manning documents in 2010.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) admitted deleting the important emails between the prosecutors and its Swedish counterparts in 2014, The Guardian reported. The emails were deleted after a CPS lawyer retired.

The news of the deleted emails comes before next week’s tribunal hearing in London.