WikiLeaks: Julian Assange risks suicide in case of extradition, insists his defense

Published on : 10/29/2021 – 8:51 AM

The psychological state of the 50-year-old Australian, prosecuted for a massive leak of classified American documents, is worrying. The defense of Julian Assange insisted, Thursday, October 28, on the risk of suicide of the founder of WikiLeaks in the event of extradition to the United States, despite the assurances of Washington on the fate which would then be reserved for him.

London High Court justices are called upon to say whether they uphold or overturn the refusal to extradite Julian Assange, who faces 175 years in US prison for releasing hundreds of thousands of classified documents.

Their decision is not expected for several weeks. “You have given us a lot of grain to grind and we will take our time,” said Judge Ian Burnett, in charge of the case with another senior magistrate, without giving a date, after two days of hearings.

Whatever it is, it is highly unlikely that the decision marks the end of this long-term legal standoff.

>> Julian Assange in court: his condition “is deteriorating more and more”

If the United States succeeds, the January decision will be overturned and the British justice system will have to rule again. And whoever loses it, he has the option to apply to the UK Supreme Court.

On Thursday, lawyers for the founder of Wikileaks focused on the risk of suicide for Julian Assange if returned to the United States, a risk that explained the rejection of the extradition request by Judge Vanessa Baraitser in January .

They emphatically recalled assurances from Washington that Julian Assange would not be incarcerated at the dreaded ADX Florence prison in Colorado, nicknamed the “Alcatraz of the Rockies”, and where members are held in near total isolation. Al-Qaeda.

Diplomatic assurances which are “a solemn question”, said Thursday the lawyer representing the United States, James Lewis, “we do not distribute them like Smarties”.

To support her decision, Judge Vanessa Baraitser notably highlighted the inability of this country to prevent the suicide of American financier Jeffrey Epstein, accused of sex trafficking in minors.

“Moderately depressed”

“These conclusions stem above all from the nature of Julian Assange’s mental disorder and his fear of being extradited given the exceptional nature of his case,” said lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Edward Fitzgerald.

“There is no indication that these factors have changed in any way with these assurances,” he pleaded.

Julian Assange refused to appear on Thursday, after participating on Wednesday from Belmarsh high security prison, where he has been held for two and a half years, in part of the proceedings by videoconference.

He was arrested by British police in April 2019 after spending seven years at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had taken refuge while on bail. He feared extradition to the United States or Sweden, where he has been the subject of charges for rape, since dropped.

He is being prosecuted for having circulated, as of 2010, more than 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic activities, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Wednesday, the lawyer representing the US government James Lewis assured that Julian Assange had “no history of serious and lasting mental illness”, assuring that even the experts appointed by his defense found him only “moderately depressed”.

“Crystal ball”

He said the Australian had “every reason to exaggerate his symptoms” and warned against a decision based on predictions made in a “crystal ball” about his fate in the event of extradition.

He also insisted that psychiatrist Michael Kopelman cheated the courts by “covering up” that his client had become a father of two with his lawyer, Stella Moris, while he was cloistered at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

According to Julian Assange’s lawyer, the assurances given by the United States do not exclude his incarceration in a very high security prison in the United States and there is “no reliable basis” to overturn the refusal of extradition .

There is “a great risk of suicide regardless of the measures,” he argued, explaining that “no error of law has been identified” in Judge Baraitser’s approach.

With AFP