GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th January, 2021) The trial of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the United Kingdom, which resulted in a ruling not to extradite him to the United States, but not to release him from UK prison either, lacks legitimacy, Veronique Pidancet-Barriere, a founder of French NGO WikiJustice for Assange, told Sputnik.
On Monday, UK district judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled against the investigative journalist's extradition, citing health reasons and suicide risks. Currently in the Belmarsh high-security prison, Assange could face a 175-year prison sentence if extradited. US prosecutors were given two weeks to appeal the verdict.
"In our complaint and our 13 release requests, we have proved that this trial was a mock trial and in our view, this ... verdict does not reflect a decision in accordance with the rules of fair trial, nor does it respect international law," Pidancet-Barriere said.
The NGO founder pointed out that the US state of Virginia, whose grand jury was the authority to indict Assange, was not a sovereign country and, therefore, not a rightful signatory to any extradition treaty.
Moreover, according to Pidancet-Barriere, by prosecuting the journalist, the United States unavoidably violates several articles of its constitution, in addition to infringing upon human rights.
"It seems clear that the U.S. State itself wishes to determine who is persecuting Julian Assange since the United States Agency for International Development has registered our complaint," the activist said.
The activist believes that Assange's legal team has too strong ties both with the United States and the UK royal family, which she believes resist letting the jailed journalist go free.
In 2010, WikiLeaks released the largest leak of classified information in history, consisting of US diplomatic cables and documents exposing the atrocities committed by US troops during military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The United States accused Assange of obtaining the documents by conspiring with former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack a classified government computer.
The UK police arrested Assange in April 2019. The journalist was sentenced to 50 weeks behind bars for breaching bail. People who visited him in jail described the conditions as extremely strict to the point of being harmful for his physical and psychological health.
