WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will fight to remain in Britain next month, it was confirmed today.
His legal team said it is ready to start a full two-day extradition hearing on February 7th. In a 10-minute hearing at Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court, his QC Geoffrey Robertson said all legal preparations are in place.
Hannah Pye, for the Swedish authorities, said she had no objection to the date in four weeks' time.
Swedish authorities are seeking to extradite Mr Assange to face allegations of the rape and sexual assault of two women.
District Judge Nicholas Evans released Mr Assange, who spoke only to confirm his name, age and address, on conditional bail.
The court heard that skeleton arguments by the defence will be released to the media on the first day of the extradition hearing.
Mr Assange’s bail was varied so he is able to stay at the Frontline Club, in Paddington, on February 6th and 7th. Mr Robertson said the long journey from his temporary home on the Norfolk/Suffolk border made it difficult to get to court on time.
Mr Assange, who wore a dark suit and light-coloured shirt, leaned forward and listened intently during the hearing.
"Our work with WikiLeaks continues unabated and we are stepping up our publishing for matters related to Cablegate and other materials," Assange told reporters outside the court.
"Those will shortly be appearing through our newspaper partners around the world - big and small newspapers and some human rights organisations," he added.
Mr Assange is wanted by the Swedish authorities over claims he sexually assaulted two women during a visit to Stockholm in August last year.
The computer programmer was released on bail by a High Court judge last month after spending nine days in Wandsworth Prison.
He denies committing any offences and his supporters claim the criminal inquiry and extradition request is unfair and politically motivated.
The controversial figure was behind the release of hundreds of United States diplomatic cables, as well as information about the Iraq war, that sparked global uproar.
Mr Assange recently signed a book deal for his life story as the US authorities stepped up their pressure on WikiLeaks by demanding information from Twitter.
Today's hearing took place under intense media scrutiny with journalists from around the world packing 100 seats in the court and an annex connected by video link.
Earlier, supporters of Mr Assange including human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger, socialite Jemima Khan and Gavin MacFadyen, director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism, arrived at court.
PA