There are many details regarding this claim and Sweden's (terrible) handling of the negotiations in the Guardian's article: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/aug/11/julian-assange-...

Wikileaks published a cable from 2012 detailing Ecuador's invitation to question Assange in the embassy. What took Sweden so long?

Ecuador was requiring that Sweden agree to something that they legally cannot agree to.

Update:

> “As a condition to let Assange be heard they [Ecuador] have demanded a special agreement in which Sweden recognizes asylum status for Assange. But the government cannot make such a commitment because it is the Migration Board which decides whether or not a person has the right to asylum.”

From: http://jackofkent.com/2015/08/assange-the-law-of-limitation-... and http://www.thelocal.se/20150807/sweden-hits-out-at-illegal-e...

Not quite. Ecuador made the offer to Sweden to interview Assange in the embassy as early as 2012. The Swedish prosecutor did nothing until March this year when she was prompted to do something by higher ups due to the statute of limitations. Sweden then made the formal request in June which led to what you describe.

If Sweden was serious about getting this sorted out then they could have done so years ago. Instead they've been unusually inflexible about the whole affair which makes the whole thing smell even more than it did at the beginning.

Or, one could argue that Ecuador changed the deal when Sweden finally took them up on the offer.

(I don't have a dog in this fight, I just find the whole situation interesting.)

I suspect that the terms and conditions didn't start getting thrashed out until Sweden made the formal request. At this level of play there is usually a lot of red tape to work through as two legal systems collide. Which is why you don't leave it to the last minute.

(While I admire the work WikiLeaks has done, I find Assange to be an egotistical idiot but given the number of unusual events that have occurred during this whole affair one can't help being interested.)

Swedes, inflexible? Incredible.

You've said that in another comment, but haven't stated what that exactly it was

I've updated the comment.

Thanks, it does seem a slightly strange request