MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th January, 2021) The Westminster London District Magistrates' Court on Wednesday refused to release WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on bail arguing that he had previously violated bail conditions, and the whistleblower's defense team is set to appeal the court's decision.
UK district judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled on Monday not to extradite Assange to the United States, citing health reasons and the risk of suicide in the US prison system, but did not release him from the Belmarsh high-security prison where he is detained. The US Department of Justice has already said that Washington would continue to seek the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder.
Baraitser, in particular, said on Wednesday that there are "substantial grounds for believing that if Mr. Assange is released today he would fail to surrender to court and face the appeal proceedings."
DEFENSE TEAM TO APPEAL BAIL DENIAL
The legal team of Assange expressed the intention to appeal Wednesday's decision to deny bail.
"This denial of bail will most likely be appealed, in the High Court, within hours or a few days and we will expect it to be overturned," WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson told reporters outside the Westminster Magistrates Court.
Hrafnsson said that he believes the ruling was "unjust, unfair and illogical" arguing that Judge Vanessa Baraitser's previous ruling to deny extradition was made on grounds of mental health issues caused, in large part, by detention in the Belmarsh prison.
International human rights organizations have strongly condemned the court decision on denying the bail.
A representative of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said outside the court on Wednesday that the refusal to release Assange on bail was an "unnecessary, cruel decision," as the whistleblower's health was at risk and he should not remain behind bars for another moment.
Amnesty International said that the court's decision to deny Assange's request for bail has rendered his continued detention arbitrary.
"Today's decision to refuse Julian Assange's bail application renders his ongoing detention 'arbitrary', and compounds the fact that he has endured punishing conditions in high security detention at Belmarsh prison for more than a year. Rather than finally going home with his loved ones and sleeping in his own bed for the first time in almost ten years, Julian Assange will be driven back to his solitary cell in a high security prison," Amnesty International's Europe Director Nils Muiznieks said.
UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment Nils Melzer said in a statement on Tuesday that Assange must be immediately released and be compensated for the abuses he has suffered.
In 2010, WikiLeaks released what is believed to be 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 government computer.
Assange was arrested in London in April 2019 and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping his bail back in 2012, when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges and possible extradition to the United States. People who visited him in jail described the conditions as extremely strict to the point of being harmful for his physical and psychological health.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Monday he would grant Assange political asylum if the United Kingdom freed him from jail.
