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New Documents Show: Wikileaks founder Assange and his closest entourage were monitored more extensively than previously known during his time at the Ecuadorian embassy.
By Elena Kuch, Robert Holm and John Goetz, NDR
It’s a scene from the surveillance camera that Stella Moris is particularly angry about. It shows the corridor of the Ecuadorian embassy in London: wooden floors, light walls, white shelves. Parts of the kitchen can also be seen: the countertop, dishes, and a woman standing on the counter. “I’m grinding coffee there,” Moris says.
A white-haired man walks down the hall, directly toward her in the kitchen. He is carrying a baby in his arms. “That was a mistake,” Moris says. “We always wanted to avoid being seen on camera with the baby. We just don’t trust the security company.”
The man is Julian Assange, her fiancé. Baby Gabriel, her son, was not yet one year old on December 31, 2017.
Spy on a large scale
What Moris and Assange still don’t know for sure and only suspect at this point: Spanish security company UC Global, which is actually responsible for the security of the London embassy building on behalf of the Ecuadorian government, is apparently spying on Assange and his immediate relatives extensively, in one much more. larger than previously known.
That comes from internal documents of the security company, the Ed and WDR exists. The photos show Assange’s private rooms in the embassy, where employees of the security company are said to have broken into. Seemingly confidential meetings between Assange, a psychologist and a doctor were also documented. Employees even apparently keep a diary on Assange’s sleep rhythm and psychological well-being.
Assange’s partner also in sight
Additionally, UC Global employees likely suspected Moris and Assange were a couple. One could follow Moris […] and even ambushed in the street, “he says in an email. Later, it was assumed that they had even hired an employee to steal his son’s diaper or pacifier. So they wanted to get DNA to find out if Julian Assange really was the one. biological father of the child.
At ARD-Documentation “Wikileaks – United States against Julian Assange” Moris expresses himself for the first time on German television. “We wanted to keep our relationship a secret,” he says. “If they had found me as their partner, I would have become a primary target.” The lawyer met the Wikileaks founder in 2011 when he brought her to his team of advisers. Moris and Assange have been in a relationship since 2015.
On behalf of the American secret services?
It is not yet clear who hired security firm UC Global to carry out the alleged illegal surveillance of Assange and its surroundings. Internal documents suggest, however, that the head of UC Global, David Morales, also negotiated with the US intelligence services.
In one of his emails he says: “Our friends in America are in control.” In another message, Morales speaks of a “Stars and Stripes service.” He also warns his employees not to discuss their business trips to the United States and to keep them a secret from the Ecuadorian government.
The suspicion that UC Global spied on Assange and his visitors on behalf of the US secret services and transmitted surveillance material, Morales said in an interview with the Ed but back. “Our job was to protect the message.” Claims about your company’s ties to the United States are silly.
Assange faces 175 years in prison
Assange has since filed a lawsuit against UC Global and CEO Morales for alleged surveillance. The main hearing on the extradition of the Wikileaks founder to the United States, where he is charged with obtaining and disseminating classified information, begins in London next Monday. If convicted, he faces 175 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Assange’s family and lawyers fear that the Wikileaks founder could commit suicide if he is deported to the United States: “His life is in danger.”
