Bostjan Zupancic, a former justice of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), told Sputnik that the 175-year prison sentence faced by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the United States was "draconian" and "way beyond reasonable."
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2022) Bostjan Zupancic, a former justice of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), told Sputnik that the 175-year prison sentence faced by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in the United States was "draconian" and "way beyond reasonable."
The UK Westminster Magistrate's Court formally approved the extradition of Assange to the US on Wednesday. Whether he would be extradited or not now rests with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel. Assange's lawyers have until May 18 to make submissions to Patel against his extradition. Even if the UK home secretary signs the extradition order, Assange can appeal against it by judicial review, which involves a judge finding out whether the decision of a public body was lawful.
"The draconian 175 years of prison he may receive in the (United) States is way beyond reasonable," Zupancic, who also served on the Constitutional Court of Slovenia, said.
The legal expert also touched on the issue of diplomatic guarantees, which have been proposed by the US to the United Kingdom to convince London that Assange will not be ill-treated by the US penitentiary system.
"In the European court, we had cases on extradition where the diplomatic guarantees from the state were not sufficient," Zupancic explained.
Assange is wanted by the US on espionage charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents that shed light on war crimes committed by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
