They sue the CIA for alleged espionage of a group of lawyers and journalists who visited Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London

Assange, free speech hero or spy? 1:19 (CNN) — A group of American lawyers and journalists who visited Wikileaks founder Julian Assange while he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London protected by asylum status say his Fourth Amendment constitutional rights were violated. at the behest of then-Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo, according to a complaint filed Monday in the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs and “hundreds of others” who visited Assange while he was under political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy were forced to hand over their electronic devices before going to see Assange, according to the complaint. The complaint alleges that every time the plaintiffs visited Assange, Undercover Global, a Spanish private security company contracted to provide security at the Ecuadorian embassy, ​​required them to hand over all of their electronic devices, the contents of which were allegedly copied for the CIA. The complaint alleges that Pompeo recruited Undercover Global and its founder and former CEO David Morales Guillen “to unlawfully obtain confidential information in the possession of Plaintiffs about Assange, his legal cases, and Plaintiffs themselves.” It also alleges that Undercover Global recorded conversations between Assange and his visitors. The lawsuit seeks a jury trial for the alleged rights violation and asks that the court prohibit the use or disclosure of any illegally seized communications. It also asks that the communications be purged from the files of the accused. The lawsuit is directed against the US CIA, Pompeo, Undercover (UC) Global and Morales. The CIA and a Pompeo spokesman declined to comment when contacted by CNN on Monday. CNN could not immediately reach UC Global or Morales for comment. AMLO: If Assange is convicted the Statue of Liberty should be removed 2:11 “It is somewhat surprising that, in light of the Fourth Amendment protection that we have in the constitution, the federal government would actually go ahead and take this information confidential, part of which was attorney-client privilege, part of which was a journalist, and even some of which were doctors who visited Mr. Assange,” lead plaintiffs’ counsel Richard Roth said at a conference. virtual press conference on Monday. Roth represents attorneys Margaret Ratner Kunstler and Deborah Hrbek and journalists John Goetz and Charles Glass. The lawsuit alleges that once they turned in their electronic devices, employees of Undercover Global, who managed security for the Ecuadorian embassy, ​​copied information from their devices without the consent of the owners or the knowledge of the Ecuadorian government. Consulting attorney Robert Boyle told the news conference that the US government’s actions violated the plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment rights and tangentially affected Assange’s rights and any chance he would have of a fair trial if he were to be convicted. extradited to the US “Copying the digital information of his lawyers and friends contaminates the criminal process,” explained Boyle. “Because the government is now aware of the content of those communications and there should be sanctions up to and including dismissal of those charges or withdrawal of an extradition request in response to these blatantly unconstitutional activities.” One plaintiff who spoke at the news conference, media attorney Hrbek, called the alleged monitoring an outrage. “I have a right to assume that the US government is not listening to my private and privileged conversations with my clients and that information about other clients and cases I may have on my phone or laptop is secure from illegal government intrusion. ”, said the lawyer based in New York. Hrbek said that he has represented WikiLeaks, journalists and videographers in the past. Kunstler has described herself as a longtime amendments attorney for the FIRE organization and testified in a 2019 court case that she had numerous conversations with Assange over the years while she was representing another WikiLeaks employee. Spanish authorities are also investigating allegations that Assange was spied on during his asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London through UC Global at the Spanish National Court, state news agency EFE reports. A Spanish judge requested that US authorities question former CIA director Mike Pompeo as a witness in the case in June, according to EFE. CNN’s Alex Marquardt and Kylie Atwood contributed to this report