Verdict on Assange's extradition will be on January 4, 2021
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The British judge presiding over the extradition case to the United States of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange announced today that she will deliver her verdict on January 4, 2021 at 10:00 local time.
Before concluding the oral hearing that resumed four weeks ago after a six-month pause due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Judge Vanessa Baraitser pointed out that the Australian journalist will continue to be locked up in the London maximum security prison until the announcement of her decision.
The United States seeks to extradite Assange to try him on 17 counts of espionage and one of conspiracy to commit computer hacking, which carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, for publishing classified information on war crimes committed by US troops between 2010 and 2011 in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thousands of State Department cables.
During the oral hearing, which resumed on September 7 after more than six months of delay due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the defense of the cyber activist presented a battery of witnesses to try to convince the British justice that the accusations presented by US prosecutors have a political background.
The London court also heard testimonies from psychiatrists who assured that the WikiLeaks founder runs a high risk of suicide if he is extradited to the United States, where according to criminal experts he would be kept in confinement even before being tried for the crimes that are they impute him.
The defense also presented as witnesses two former employees of the Spanish firm that was in charge of the security of the Ecuadorian embassy in London where Assange was sheltered between 2012 and 2019 to demonstrate that his client was spied on by that agency, on orders of the services of North American Intelligence.
The British judge gave the Australian journalist's legal team four more weeks to present the final arguments of the case, and another two weeks to the prosecution.
According to the magistrate, Assange must appear before the London court on October 29 for an administrative hearing, but by videoconference from the prison where he has been locked up since his arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy in April 2019. / PL