MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th April, 2019) WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London has never been about hiding from the sexual assault charges in Sweden because he cooperated with the prosecution before the case was dropped and remains ready to do so if the inquiry is reopened, the whistleblower's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said on Sunday.
"All these people are saying he is hiding from the Swedish justice, if that were the case, why did not he walk out of the embassy two years ago when this case was dropped? ... If they [Swedish authorities] chose to reopen it [the case], that is a separate question and we will deal with it, but we are absolutely happy to answer those queries if and when they come up," Robinson said in an interview with Sky news.
The lawyer added that the whistleblower had only decided to take refuge at the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission when Sweden refused to provide either him or Ecuador with guarantees that he would not be subject to extradition to the United States.
"Julian has never been concerned about facing British justice or indeed Swedish justice. This case is and has always been about his concern about being sent to face American injustice. We've been warning since 2010 ... that he would face the risk of US extradition for actions and his work associated with WikiLeaks publications, we warned for years and that is precisely what has happened," Robinson added.
On Thursday, Assange was arrested at the US request at the Ecuadorian embassy after his political asylum had been revoked. The WikiLeaks founder, who has become famous for leaking classified US government data, now faces extradition to the United States on computer hacking charges and could get up to five years in jail.
Assange took refuge in the embassy back in 2012 after the United Kingdom granted his extradition to Sweden, where the whistleblower was accused of sexual offenses, which he denied and called politically motivated. The charges were dropped a few years back.
