LONDON—A legal battle over whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to Sweden to face a sexual-assault investigation entered its second day Tuesday, with lawyers sparring over who had been more uncooperative: Mr. Assange or the Swedish prosecutor pursuing him.
Sweden is trying to extradite Mr. Assange from the U.K. for questioning over allegations that he raped one woman and molested another during a visit to Stockholm last August. He hasn't been formally charged with a crime, and denies wrongdoing.
Lawyers for Mr. Assange argued that he shouldn't be extradited because he tried multiple times to meet with Swedish prosecutors after they opened the investigation on Sept. 1, and before Mr. Assange left Sweden on Sept. 27.
But a lawyer representing Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny said it was Ms. Ny who tried repeatedly, and unsuccessfully, to schedule an interrogation with Mr. Assange, who at one point went missing for about a week, unreachable by even his own lawyers.
The sexual-assault allegations surfaced at the end of August, in the wake of WikiLeaks' publication of thousands of classified U.S. documents. The leaks have led to a broad U.S. federal investigation.
After Mr. Assange left the country, Sweden issued a European arrest warrant for him, and he was arrested in the U.K. on Dec. 7.
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