[keithpeter]

Yes the alleged crime is serious.

There is still something very funny about this insistence that the questioning happens in Sweden. Swedish police can come to UK to question. UK police could question on behalf of Swedish police, there are arrangements for that I think.

Extradition when there are no charges is unusual.

The UK have been here before, General Pinochet and the Spanish judges spring to mind.

Edit: further reading on European arrest warrants makes me realise that each country in Europe has a different definition of 'arrest'.

[stef25]

> Swedish police can come to UK to question

Ecuador offered this, saying they are welcome to question him in their embassy but the Swedes refused. It's blatantly obvious the US is leaning very hard on both the UK and SE.

[awj]

You have an ... interesting definition of "blatantly obvious".

There are a number of legitimate reasons Sweden would refuse this idea. Foremost among them is that, in the event this questioning leads to a decision to arrest, it likely can't be performed.

[mongol]

Exactly. This is obvious. That is why law enforcement wants to perform interrogations in an environment they control, when they are dealing with a suspect.

[keithpeter]

In Europe, cooperation between different police forces is fairly routine. Below some examples from UK police forces, I'm assuming reciprocity.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-184038/Police-smash-...

http://www.sussex.police.uk/about-us/policies-and-procedures...

(UK has around 40 regional police forces along with various national agencies.)

[froo]

Extradition when there are no charges is unusual.

Unusual yes, but not unheard of.

As a personal anecdote, there is a close friend of my family who has been facing extradition to another country merely for questioning over something that he allegedly did in 1944.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Zentai

[keithpeter]

"The Hungarian authorities have not explained why they could not question him in Australia under the treaty on criminal cooperation."

Seems very similar.

[sageikosa]

Depending on the jurisdiction, before charges can be formally filed, there may need to be some kind of grand jury action which may lead to an indictment. A subpoena to appear before the grand jury can lead to a bench warrant for arrest for failure to appear. The charge in such cases would therefore be "contempt of court" (or the equivalent).

Not sure it applies here, though.