Julian Assange: Swedish authorities ask to speak with Wikileaks founder in embassy bolthole

The Ecuadorian Embassy in London has received a request from Swedish authorities to gain access to the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange who has been living inside the Latin American embassy for the past six years to avoid extradition.

The Guardian reported the request may indicate a break in the logjam between the two countries, after Assange moved into the embassy in 2010. He is wanted by Sweden to answer questions over a rape allegation.

The Wikileaks founder has maintained that the allegations are a pretext to allow his extradition to the US which has condemned his organisation for releasing hundreds of damaging diplomatic cables.

The Ecuadorian mission to the UK has maintained throughout Assange's stay that he should be interviewed on embassy premises. It said it had welcomed the request.

Ecuador's foreign minister, Dr Guillaume Long, has been quoted by the newspaper as saying his country may need new legal assurances before allowing access to prosecutors from Sweden.

Assange has expressed frustration that he is still facing a European Arrest Warrant (EAW). An EAW allows police in an EU member state to arrest an individual on behalf of another state and transfer them, without requiring extradition proceedings.

He recently backed the UK leaving the EU in the upcoming referendum, citing the EAW as one reason, as well as saying that the current government uses the EU "as political cover for its own decision making".

Assange lives in a 4.6mx4m room in the embassy. He spends most of his day at his computer.

Swedish prosecutors dropped three of four sex crime accusations against Assange last year. The remaining allegation relating to rape has a statue of limitation on it that runs out in 2020.

Earlier this year, the United Nations' Working Group on Arbitrary Detention gave the opinion that Assange was being unlawfully detained and recommended that he be granted his freedom. Both the UK and Sweden dispute the group's findings.

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