The never-ending story of the legal pursuit of Julian Assange is plagued with "zombie facts" – repeated over and over by both his supporters and his critics, they "stagger on even when shot down".

How to make sense of it all? Here's a quick, zombie-free guide to help you get to the bottom of this murky case, which is stuck in a diplomatic bog (but not a diplomatic bag) involving Britain, Ecuador and Sweden.

The facts

What's going on? Ecuador has granted Assange asylum, but he remains holed up in that country's tiny embassy in London. This is because the British government says it is obliged to extradite him to Sweden and will arrest him as soon as he pokes his nose out of the Knightsbridge apartment.

What's Julian Assange done? Nothing that's been proven – other than, via WikiLeaks, releasing to the world millions of documents that governments and corporations would like to keep secret. But this extradition case is all about alleged sexual assaults in Sweden two years ago.

The Swedish authorities have issued an arrest warrant so that they can question Assange – but they have not charged him with any crime. Assange says he fears that if he goes to Sweden he'll be extradited to the US, where he might face criminal charges over WikiLeaks activities.

Legally speaking

Is he right? It seems not. Legal opinion is that it would be easier for the US to extradite Assange from the UK. And if he did go to Sweden, according to European law Sweden and the UK would both have to agree for him to be extradited to the US.

Could Sweden promise not to extradite him to the US? Difficult. Because there are no charges against Assange in the US, the Swedes would have to grant a blanket protection against any future extradition request, rather than allowing their courts to judge any future case on its legal merits – which is what courts are supposed to do.

So those Swedish detectives need to get a ticket to London? They reject that. Under the Swedish system, he must be arrested before being questioned. It's not for Assange to decide where that happens, says Sweden, and the British supreme court has agreed.

Big human rights fail

Hmmm. At least Ecuador has stood up for human rights and freedom of speech by giving Assange asylum. Maybe – but that would be out of character. Ecuador has a terrible record on press freedom. Anti-government journalists have been jailed and persecuted, and the country is ranked 104th in the world on Reporters without Borders' 2011-2012 index. Interestingly, Ecuador is in the process of extraditing a political refugee, a Belarusian blogger who is an outspoken critic of his government.

What about Britain? The British government has said that it will talk to the Ecuadoreans, but it believes it has the legal ability to revoke the diplomatic status of the embassy building. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa says that Britain's diplomatic premises around the world will be at risk if it violates Ecuadorean territory.

Could they get him out in a diplomatic bag?Possibly. Diplomatic "official materials" can be sent in or out of a country in packages of any size and cannot be opened or searched. But smuggling a person in a diplomatic bag has failed before.

Assange's supporters say ...

President Rafael Correa of Ecuador: "Remember that David beat Goliath. And with many Davids it's easier to bring down a number of Goliaths."

@NaomiAKlein: "Rape being used in #Assange prosecution in same way women’s freedom used to invade Afghanistan. Wake up!"

And in an attempt to be helpful, British MP George Galloway caught on to something in the zeitgeist when he said that what Assange was alleged to have done in Sweden wasn't really rape, anyway. It went down like a lead balloon.

And the critics say...

British legal expert David Allen Green: "It is important to remember that complainants of rape and sexual assault have rights too, even when the suspect is Julian Assange."

Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet: "Assange has evolved into a megalomaniac rhetorician, who seems to have very little contact left with reality."

Lord Walsingham, in a letter to Britain's Daily Telegraph: "Sir, Mr Assange may abseil down from a back window. They should put the SAS round the back of the embassy. Laundry baskets going out should be gassed."

Where now?

Assange gave an impassioned speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorean embassy on Sunday, saying that as WikiLeaks stands under threat, “so does the freedom of expression and the health of all our societies.”

The US must renounce its "witch hunt" against WikiLeaks, he said, including calling off any FBI investigation: “The United States must vow that it will not seek to prosecute our staff or our supporters.”

Watch more: Relentless showman or persecuted hero? See Sunday's balcony speech and weigh in below by leaving a comment.