Wikileaks
Timeline on Julian Assange, the Australian founder of WikiLeaks
Timeline on Julian Assange, the Australian founder of WikiLeaks. A British judge on Monday ruled that he should not be extradited to the US to face espionage...
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said the 49-year-old Australian publisher faced 'oppressive' conditions in maximum-security isolation if detained in the US.
Julian Assange faces 18 charges in the US relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing aspects of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The hearing at the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, is due to last three to four weeks. It had been due to go ahead in April but was delayed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Dupond-Moretti told Europe 1 radio that Assange’s legal team would be in contact with French President Emmanuel Macron to make the case for Assange to get asylum in France.
The decision likely ends the threat of extradition to Sweden for the whistleblower, who is wanted by the US on espionage charges and is currently being held at a British high-security prison.
The 47-year-old was due to appear in a London court later Friday via video link, as he sought to avoid being forcibly taken to the US.
The department unveiled 17 new charges against Assange, accusing him of directing and abetting intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in stealing secret US files, and also recklessly exposing confidential sources in the Middle East and China who were named in the files.
Timeline on Julian Assange after Swedish authorities reopened a 2010 rape investigation against the WikiLeaks founder.
The United States is also seeking his extradition on conspiracy charges relating to the public release by Wikileaks of a cache of secret documents.
Julian Assange appeared via videolink in court, where a lawyer for the US authorities briefly set out his alleged involvement in the release of classified documents.
The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on 11 April after Ecuador gave him up, will serve the nearly one-year sentence while fighting a separate attempt to transfer him to the United States.
The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on 11 April after Ecuador gave him up, raised a clenched fist as he arrived in a prison van at Southwark Crown Court.
Assange’s relationship with his hosts collapsed after Ecuador accused him of leaking information about Moreno’s personal life.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Friday that Assange would receive "no special treatment" from Canberra.
Police said they arrested Assange, 47, after being invited into the embassy following Ecuador’s withdrawal of asylum.
Julian Assange had always denied the Swedish sexual assault claims, saying they were politically motivated and expressing fears of a plot to transfer him to US to face trial there.
Assange has been living at the embassy since 2012 when he sought refuge there.
Prosecutors revealed the existence of the sealed indictment inadvertently in a court filing in an unrelated case, WikiLeaks said.