Stockholm, Sweden (CNN) -- The founder and editor of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been charged in Sweden with rape and molestation, a spokeswoman for the Swedish prosecutor's office told CNN Saturday.
Spokeswoman Karin Rosander said the charges were filed Friday night in relation to two separate instances, but she didn't have more detail about when the alleged crimes occurred or who the alleged victims are.
Assange denied the charges in a posting Saturday on the WikiLeaks Twitter page, saying, "The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing".
The rape charge carries a possible prison sentence, while the molestation charge would not, Rosander said.
Assange was in Sweden last weekend, but Rosander said it's not clear whether he is still in the country. She said police have been unable so far to make contact with Assange.
"The next step is to get in contact with him and interview him," Rosander said.
An elusive figure, Assange reportedly lives part-time in Sweden. He told the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet this week that he chose Sweden to host several servers for WikiLeaks because of the country's privacy laws.
He also told the paper, in an interview published Monday, that he had been in Sweden because he wanted a safe place to go after the high-profile leak of U.S. documents related to the war in Afghanistan.
WikiLeaks has sparked major controversy by posting some 76,000 pages of those documents online last month, in what was called the biggest leak since the Pentagon Papers about the Vietnam War.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates criticized the leak, saying it would have a significant negative impact on troops and allies, revealing techniques and procedures. CNN
