Julian Assange criminal investigation into WikiLeaks and asked allied nations for assistance. In November 2010, Sweden issued an international arrest warrant for Assange. He had been questioned there months earlier over allegations of sexual assault and rape. Assange denied the allegations, and said that he would be extradited from Sweden to the United States because of his rôle in publishing secret American documents. Assange surrendered to UK police on 7 December 2010 but was released on bail within 10 days. Having been unsuccessful in his challenge to the extradition proceedings, he breached his bail and absconded. He was granted asylum by Ecuador
Julian Assange Russian propaganda. Assange was named as a defendant in the April 20, 2018 lawsuit filed by the Democratic National Committee with regard to the hacking of its emails in 2016. The DNC's filing called this a "brazen attack on American democracy", referring to the alleged activities of WikiLeaks and Russian agents together. The WikiLeaks editor in chief Kristinn Hrafnsson stated that "The DNC lawsuit is a litmus test for press freedoms. The suit claims that the scandalous emails of powerful political operatives are 'trade secrets' and cannot be published. If this precedent is set it will be the end of