The US federal government refused to either confirm or deny the existence of a sealed criminal case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a court document showed on Monday.
“It has not confirmed or denied whether charges against Julian Assange exist, which is what the plaintiff seeks to learn through this application,” the document stated.
Assange, who had been prosecuted by Sweden on sexual assault charges, has received asylum in Ecuador and has been living in the country’s embassy in the United Kingdom since 2012. Sweden dropped the charges in 2017, but the whistleblower has not left the embassy, citing fears that he might be caught and extradited to the United States, where he might face charges over leaking thousands of classified documents.