ASSANGE’S LATEST FIGHT TO STOP U.S. EXTRADITION CONCLUDES IN LONDON U.S. prosecutors are seeking to put Assange, 52, on trial
Former WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s last fight to stop extradition to the United States concludes on Wednesday, February 21st at the London Courts of Justice.
U.S. prosecutors are seeking to put Assange, 52, on trial over WikiLeaks’ high-profile release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables.
They argue the leaks imperilled the lives of their agents and there was no excuse for his criminality. Assange’s supporters hail him as a journalist and a hero who is being persecuted for exposing U.S. wrongdoing.
Assange himself was again not in court on Wednesday nor watching remotely because he was unwell, his lawyers and his wife Stella said.
The Australian’s legal battles began in 2010, and he spent seven years holed up in Ecuador’s embassy before he was dragged out and jailed in 2019 for breaching bail conditions.
He has been held in a maximum-security jail in London since then, even getting married there, while Britain finally approved his extradition to the U.S. in 2022.
Assange’s lawyers say he could be given a sentence as long as 175 years, but likely to be at least 30 to 40 years. U.S. prosecutors have said it would be no more than 63 months.
If Assange wins this case, a full appeal hearing will be held. If he loses, his only remaining option would be at the European Court of Human Rights. His wife has said his lawyers would apply to that court for an injunction if necessary.