The trial to decide on Julian Assange’s last appeal against his extradition to the United States began this Tuesday in London, in the absence of the WikiLeaks founder, who according to his lawyer is ill.
“He was not feeling well today and is not present,” declared his lawyer, Edward Fitzgerald, at the beginning of the hearing before the High Court of Justice in London.
The two hearings to decide whether Julian Assange can appeal his case again in the United Kingdom or if he should instead be extradited to the United States began this Tuesday at the High Court in London.
Amid great public and press expectations, judges Victoria Sharp and Adam Johnson began the session, which will conclude on Wednesday, listening to the arguments of the 52-year-old Australian’s defense.
The British Prosecutor’s Office will represent the American Justice, which is demanding the founder of WikiLeaks for 18 crimes of espionage and computer intrusion for the revelations of his portal, which in 2010 and 2011 exposed violations of US human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan .
The session was interrupted shortly after it began due to technical problems that prevented journalists from hearing what was happening in the room and were partially resolved.
Fitzgerald began his argument by listing the reasons why his client should be able to appeal again, considering that if he is handed over to the United States, his rights to a fair trial and freedom of expression, among others, will be violated.
“The accusation is politically motivated. Assange exposed serious criminality. “He is being prosecuted for carrying out an ordinary journalistic practice, of obtaining and publishing classified information, information that is both true and of obvious and important public interest,” he argued.
At the request of the computer programmer’s defense, the two judges will review, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the decision made on June 6, 2023 by a single judge, Jonathan Swift, who denied him permission to continue appealing in this country and gave the extradition order to the US is good
After hearing the parties, the magistrates could issue their ruling immediately or postpone it.
If in the end he is allowed to appeal the aspects of his case that the defense failed to address in previous trials, a new trial would begin before the London Court of Appeal.
If, on the other hand, they agree with Swift in prohibiting it, the delivery mechanism to the US, supervised by the British Ministry of the Interior, would be activated.
In the second case, their lawyers have already said that they will immediately request urgent precautionary measures from the European Court of Human Resources (ECHR), under article 39 of its regulations, to stop the extradition, while they file an appeal before the European court.
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