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‘We should always speak conflict crimes & killing civilians, not US espionage claims on this courtroom’ – WikiLeaks head Kristinn Hrafnsson
It’s “outrageous” that Julian Assange stands trial in London on “hole US claims” that haven’t modified within the final ten years, Kristinn Hrafnsson stated, promising the protection has some robust arguments to avert the extradition.
“There’s completely nothing new that’s being offered right here this morning by the Crown Prosecution Service on behalf of US prosecution,” Hrafnsson advised a crowd of journalists who gathered outdoors Woolwich Crown Courtroom the place the extradition listening to for Assange started.
Legal professionals representing US authorities offered arguments that have been “extra of the identical issues we’ve been listening to for ten years.” Again in July 2010, WikiLeaks was accused of placing US lives in danger by exposing its army and intelligence operations worldwide, however “ten years later, there is no such thing as a proof of such hurt.”
“And on the contrary, a Pentagon official was compelled to confess in Manning’s trial in 2013 that no person was bodily harmed due to the revelations in 2010 and 2011. And now, in 2020, they’re in courtroom, not capable of current a single proof of that hurt,” Hrafnsson reminded the press, earlier than hitting again on the US facet.
And I’m sitting there listening to those claims, these subjective claims, and pondering: Why aren’t we discussing the hurt that was revealed by WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011? Why aren’t we speaking in courtroom about conflict crimes, the assassination of harmless civilians by the army, the slaughtering of Reuters journalists?
If extradited to the US, Assange faces espionage costs carrying a 175-year jail sentence. As Hrafnsson believes, the American claims “have been hole ten years in the past, and so they don’t improve in legitimacy as years go by.”
Assange’s legal professionals have ready dozens of “overwhelming arguments” that would avert the extradition. These might be offered “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow and within the weeks forward on this lengthy struggle for justice.”
At any fee, the very existence of the extradition trial is a shame, Hrafnsson identified: “It’s a shameful factor that we’ve to defend journalism in a courtroom of legislation on this nation.”
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The imprisoned writer’s authorized group consider he’s unlikely to obtain a good and unbiased trial within the US, however the ongoing proceedings in Britain are additionally removed from flawless.
The courtroom in Woolwich has solely a dozen seats reserved for most people, Hrafnsson revealed, and journalists have bother getting inside.
“Very laborious to speak about open and clear proceedings, particularly when the microphones are so unhealthy that you must stretch your ear to listen to what’s being offered,” the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief added.
