WikiLeaks: Will Julian Assange be extradited? The United States plays a new card – Southwest

British justice examines from Wednesday the American appeal against his refusal to extradite Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, prosecuted for a massive leak of documents.

In January, British judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected extradition request because of the suicide risk of the 50-year-old Australian, who faces 175 years in prison in the United States in a case characterized by his supporters as a policy and attack on free speech.

One of Washington’s last resort

Corn Washington has obtained the right to appeal this decision, questioning in particular the reliability of an expert who had testified in favor of Julian Assange and his fragile mental health. The psychiatrist, Michael Kopelman, had in fact admitted having cheated the courts by “concealing” the fact that his client had become a father while he was confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

This appeal, which is to take place over two days, is one of the last recourse for Washington, which, in the event of a new defeat, would only have the possibility of appealing to the British Supreme Court, without being assured that it would be. allowed.

Julian Assange was arrested by British police in April 2019 after spending seven years in seclusion 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 faced rape charges that have since been dropped.

“A matter of life and death”

The Australian, supported by a number of press freedom organizations, faces 175 years in prison in the United States for having disseminated, as of 2010, more than 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic activities , especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

For his French lawyer, Me Antoine Vey, the American appeal is not based on “any new element liable to invalidate the first instance decision”. He who found Julian Assange “very marked, both psychologically and physically” during their interview two weeks ago at Belmarsh prison, claims that the appeal judges work “in consistency” and “confirm the non-extradition “. It is according to him “a question of life or death”.

However, the expert in American law Carl Tobias sees chances of success for the American appeal, recalling that the British justice had considered in August that his arguments were “at least defensible”. “The United States might be able to convince the High Court that Mrs Baraitser gave too much weight to the report (of expert Kopelman) to make its decision,” he explained, however, believing that this “could not be sufficient to justify the annulment of the whole of its decision ”.

On Saturday, hundreds of demonstrators – carrying signs “Do not extradite Assange”, “Journalism is not a crime” – gathered in the High Court of London, to demand his release.