Julian Assange Affidavit States 'Rape Victim' Sent Texts Denying Attack

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has claimed that a woman he is alleged to have raped sent text messages admitting that he never assaulted her.

In an affidavit published on the WikiLeaks website, Assange cites several SMS messages supposedly exchanged between his two alleged victims.

The affidavit quotes one woman's text message as saying "it was the police who made up the charges". The alleged victim "did not want to put any charges on JA but that the police were keen on getting a grip on him", the affidavit continues.

The victim also allegedly texted that she was "chocked [sic] when they arrested JA because she only wanted him to take a [STD] test".

Assange claimed the messages were sent between 20 and 21 August 2010, and that he received paraphrased versions from his lawyers in December 2011. His lawyers have since been denied access to a full copy of the victims' phone records.

The affidavit also links to a screenshot of a Twitter post, written in Swedish, that one of the women posted in April 2013, stating that she had not been raped. The tweet has been deleted.

Assange, the founder of the whistleblower website, has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012 after claiming diplomatic asylum to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault by two WikiLeaks volunteers.

Assange states in the affidavit that he left the UK for Sweden on 11 August 2010 because he feared for his safety in the UK and had decided to manage his WikiLeaks interests from Scandinavia.

Nine days later, the two women (identified as AA and SW in documents filed to the UK Supreme Court) went to the police. One of the women wanted Assange tested for sexually transmitted diseases.

The duty prosecutor Maria Kjellstrand ordered his arrest on the same day.

Assange claims in the affidavit that he stayed on in Sweden to clear his name but on a trip to Berlin a month later his suitcase containing three encrypted laptops and other information was "seized unlawfully" by the Swedish or German authorities.

Assange claims that, while in Sweden, he had begun to suspect that the US was working with the Swedish government.

"I file this affidavit in the knowledge that there will likely be pressure for this matter not to be investigated, but in the knowledge that the law requires an investigation," Assange writes in his court filing.

"I request that Swedish judicial authorities act swiftly to question and arrest if necessary those who are likely to have information about or bear criminal responsibility for the actions taken against WikiLeaks and my person as detailed in this affidavit."