[ad_1]
LONDON – British justice decided on Monday not to accept the request made by the United States for the extradition of the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, in a case that questions press freedom. According to the British court, it would be “oppressive” to extradite the Australian in view of his extremely fragile health and the considerable risk of suicide.
“I believe that Mr. Assange’s mental state is so serious that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States,” Judge Vanessa Baraitser read at the end of the hour hearing, leading the protesters who accompanied the trial out of the courtroom to euphoria.
Analyze: Prosecution of WikiLeaks founder calls press freedom into question
Assange, who attended the hearing in person, faces 18 charges in the United States related to conspiracy to obtain and disclose, between 2010 and 2011, more than 250,000 diplomatic cables and about 500,000 confidential documents about American military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan during the called “war on terror”. If convicted, he faces up to 175 years in prison.
Assange’s defense, like several human rights organizations, says the charges are political persecution and bring free journalistic work under control. Despite the decision to deny extradition, the charges brought by American lawyers have been virtually all supported by British courts, something that civil rights activists view with concern.
Read More: Forty organizations are calling for the release of Assange, who is awaiting trial for the extradition request to the US.
The Americans immediately announced that they would appeal the verdict. The defense has indicated that it will file a request for the Australian to be released on bail on Wednesday, when the hearing resumes, but until then he will remain in detention. The process has not yet been extended for months or years given the appeal possibilities. in intermediate instances and, later, in the British Supreme Court.
According to the judge, the defense proved that the defendant suffers from severe depression and would run a high risk of taking his life if he were extradited. According to witnesses and his lawyers, he allegedly revealed suicidal thoughts and a blade was found in his cell in London’s Belmarsh Prison. He would also have had a will ready.
In prison:Assange’s life is in danger, says UN expert
Risk of suicide
In September Michael Kopelman, a neuropsychiatrist at King’s College, testified in court that the Australian suffered from Asperger’s syndrome, anxiety and hallucinations. UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer, who visited Assange in prison, says the Australian has all the symptoms associated with prolonged exposure to torture. Melzer asked US President Donald Trump last month to pardon the Australian.
According to the judge, given that US intelligence is hostile to Assange (he cited Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s comments that WikiLeaks is a national security risk), the defendant will likely be placed in solitary confinement in a maximum security prison. , leaving you at “high risk of suicide”:
WikiLeaks:Trump offered Assange pardon if he denied Russia involvement in Democratic email leak, defense says
“Given the conditions of almost total isolation, I am convinced that the procedures [penais americanos] will not stop Assange from committing suicide, “says the verdict, which refers to the death of Jeffrey Epstein, a billionaire accused of child sex trafficking, as an example of the lack of guarantees that the US prison system is able to prevent him from the accused commit suicide.
Baraitser, however, agreed with virtually all of the charges from the American lawyers. In his opinion, Assange would have gone “beyond the powers of investigative journalism” to allegedly help analyst Chelsea Manning to violate the Espionage Act, hacking into the State Department system and revealing the identity of the informants, something that it would not be within the scope of freedom of the press.
In addition to journalistic skills
The judge even said she was confident that the US judicial system would protect the defendant’s freedoms, guarantee a fair trial, and said she believed the US authorities were acting in “good faith.” Critics, however, question that this happens in view of the nature of the complaints:
“We do not agree with the judge’s opinion that this case is not politically motivated and is not about freedom of expression,” said Rebecca Vincent, international campaigns director for Reporters Without Borders, after the trial. – We continue to believe that Assange was targeted for his contributions to journalism and, until these issues are addressed, sources and journalists will remain at risk.
Assange was first arrested in the UK in December 2010, five months after the documents were published. The arrest warrant was related to allegations of rape and sexual abuse in Sweden, subsequently submitted for lack of evidence. At the time, he already said that he feared extradition to the United States.
In June 2012, after British courts denied him his last resort to avoid extradition to Stockholm, he applied for asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, violating his probation. Assange remained in the diplomatic mission until April 2019, when Quito revoked his asylum. He was arrested as he left the building and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breach of probation.
After being interrupted while the Australian was at the embassy, the Swedish court resumed investigations into the rape charges, but found no evidence. Before the presentation of the case, a series of questions were raised about the legality of keeping him in Belmarsh prison, where he remains today.
