Court filing cites charges against Julian Assange

A pair of references to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in an unrelated court filing reveals US government efforts to charge him.

In a filing unsealed last week, prosecutors for the Eastern District of Virginia included two references to charges against Assange while arguing to keep an unrelated case sealed for a different person charged with coercion and enticement of a minor.

The filing about the case was from a prosecutor in the eastern Virginia state district court, Assistant US Attorney Kellen Dwyer.

In the filing, Dwyer says documents should remain sealed because "due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged".

The documents "would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter", Dwyer goes on to say.

It was not clear if any charges against Assange had been filed. The Justice Department said the filing was a mistake, without specifying why, while WikiLeaks believed it was a "cut and paste" error.

However, the US Mueller inquiry into alleged Russian election interference has suggested that WikiLeaks was used by Russian intelligence to distribute the hacked material.

US spy agencies say Russia aimed to help Donald Trump win the 2016 election. Russia denies the allegations.

Wikileaks published thousands of emails hacked from Democrats during the presidential race between Trump and Hillary Clinton.

"The court filing was made in error," said Joshua Stueve, spokesman for the Eastern District of Virginia. He declined to comment further on how it happened or whether there are charges filed against Assange.

The filing was discovered by Seamus Hughes, deputy director of the program on extremism at George Washington University.

Assange fled to Ecuador's London embassy in 2012 to evade since-dropped sex assault charges and has stayed over fears of extradition to the US.

Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno has said he was never "in favour" of Assange's activities and has described him as a "stone in our shoe".