Above: Swedish prosecutor Ingrid Isgren arrives at the Ecuadorian embassy in London to interview Julian Assange. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
WikiLeaks founder’s Swedish lawyer says he has been barred from attending interview, scheduled to take three days
A senior Swedish prosecutor has begun interviewing Julian Assange at Ecuador’s embassy in London, six years after a woman in Stockholm accused the WikiLeaks of rape.
Ingrid Isgren, Sweden’s deputy chief prosecutor, arrived at 9.30am on Monday at the central London embassy where Assange has been confined since June 2012.
Assange sought asylum from Ecuador to avoid extradition to Sweden over the accusation, which he denies.
Isgren was greeted by dozens of photographers, international TV crews and a small number of the Australian’s supporters, who unfurled banners and chanted their support. She paused briefly for photographs but did not speak to reporters.
Prosecutors have said they will not comment while the investigation is ongoing.
Three days have been set aside for the interview, which is being conducted by an Ecuadorian prosecutor, following a list of questions submitted earlier this year by the Swedish prosecution authority.
Isgren is allowed to ask Assange to clarify his answers, but not to put additional questions, and will receive a written transcript of the exchanges from Ecuador after the interview has concluded. Her office has said it will seek to take a DNA sample from Assange if he agrees.
Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelson, said he had been barred from the interview. “Ecuador refuses to let me in and insists that the questioning will continue without my presence, against my client’s wishes to have me there,” he told Reuters.
Samuelson said he still hoped to be admitted if the interview continued, “but a good chunk of questioning has already taken place, as far as I understand”.
In a statement released on Monday night, WikiLeaks said there had been “numerous irregularities” in the Swedish investigation. “Unfortunately, the irregularities with procedure have continued today,” it said, citing the fact that Samuelson had not been permitted to attend, which it called a “clear breach of process”.
It said Assange “felt compelled to participate even with these problems”.
Sweden’s investigation of the rape accusation has been locked in stalemate since he fled to the embassy. Prosecutors initially insisted he would have to travel to Sweden to be interviewed, but Assange refused, arguing that it would put him at risk of onward extradition to the US for potential prosecution over WikiLeaks publications.
Prosecutors finally agreed to questioning in London after coming under increased pressure in Sweden to move the case forward. In November 2014, Sweden’s appeal court rejected Assange’s appeal against the warrant but criticised the country’s chief prosecutor, Marianne Ny, over her failure to examine alternative avenues of investigation.
The court upheld the warrant again upheld in September this year. In February, a UN panel said Assange’s continued presence at the embassy amounted to “arbitrary detention”.
An investigation into separate sexual assault allegations a second Swedish woman made against Assange had to be dropped last year after the deadline to bring charges expired.
The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell joined the Australian’s supporters outside the embassy. He said he was appalled that it had taken Swedish prosecutors six years to come to interview him.
“I have always said that Julian Assange should answer the serious sex allegations. For the last six years he has been willing to answer those allegations. He has never been charged with any offence,” Tatchell said.
There was no sign of the WikiLeaks founder, but his pet cat, which has its own Twitter account, @EmbassyCat, appeared at the window wearing a fake collar and tie.