"Julian Assange is not a journalist. " From the first minutes of the extradition hearing targeting the founder of WikiLeaks, which opened on Monday 24 February late in the morning in London, James Lewis, the lawyer representing the United States, set the tone. "What Julian Assange seeks to defend as falling within the freedom of expression is not a question of publication of information, but that of the identity of sources", he said in his opening remarks, when the US administration formally charged Julian Assange with espionage last May.
In his remarks, James Lewis directly criticized Julian Assange for the publication, by the WikiLeaks site in the early 2010s, of certain secret documents, displaying sensitive information – in particular those of sources having informed the American army and diplomacy. "The United States is aware of sources, the identity of which appeared in documents published by WikiLeaks, which has disappeared, even though the United States cannot prove that their disappearance is linked to their exposure by WikiLeaks", said Lewis, announcing what should be one of the main lines of the prosecution against Julian Assange.
The main party faces, for these reasons, up to 175 years in prison in the United States, the American justice system having retained eighteen counts of charges against him. A threat that will become all the more concrete if British justice agrees to extradite him to the United States after this extraordinary trial, scheduled to last several weeks.
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Raised fist and support of "yellow vests"
Before that, Julian Assange, imprisoned in London since his arrest in April 2019, appeared before British judge Vanessa Baraitser wearing a light gray sweater under a dark gray jacket. He immersed himself at length in bundles of documents handed over by his lawyers while the prosecution was hitting the charges, before attending the debate lurking in the dock, without any apparent reaction.
He just raised his fist several times in the direction of his supporters, present in small numbers in the courtroom. In the morning, he only spoke, briefly and without formal authority, to complain that he had misunderstood the proceedings, in part because of protests outside the London court.
The low sky and the pouring rain did not deter a few dozen supporters of Assange from coming to demonstrate outside the austere Woolwich Crown Court, adjoining the Belmarsh high security prison where Mr. Assange has been imprisoned since his arrest. at the Embassy of Ecuador. Among them, many "yellow vests" – and in particular Maxime Nicolle, one of the figures of the movement – came especially from France. "Free, free, free Assange", "We're here for Julian Assange", they sang throughout the day, megaphone in hand. A protester was arrested by British police after spreading red paint on the floor.
At the hearing, James Lewis, also for the American prosecution, tried to limit the proceedings: "This is not a trial: Mr. Assange's guilt or innocence will be determined in the United States, not here. It is not for the court to determine whether Assange is a journalist, a whistleblower or a hacker. " According to him, the prison sentence to which Mr. Assange could be sentenced in the United States would be much shorter than the total theoretical sentence. He also dismissed the idea that extradition could be prevented by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to which the United Kingdom is a party, which protects freedom of expression.
"High risk of suicide" in case of extradition
What the Assange defense team is disputing, who argue that sending him to the United States for a trial under the Espionage Act – an extremely tough piece of American law – would violate his rights and freedom of expression within the meaning of the European Convention.
All the possible legal arguments seem, moreover, to be used by the lawyers of the Australian in the days to come. First of all, the political aspect which they attribute to the American accusation. "This accusation is not motivated by law but by politics. It is directed against Julian Assange because of his political convictions ”, said Edward Fitzgerald, the lawyer representing Julian Assange, in his opening remarks. He stressed on this occasion "The importance of the revelations brought by WikiLeaks and Julian Assange".
Transferring Julian Assange to the United States would further expose him "Inhuman and degrading treatment in American prisons", said his lawyer, when his health is very poor, according to his advisers. Edward Fitzgerald even quoted "A high risk of suicide" in the event of extradition.
The lawyer also insisted on the surveillance of Julian Assange when he was confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London, between 2012 and 2019. "We know that the American intelligence services received information about what was going on in the embassy", a "Illegal surveillance", according to the lawyer.
" Abuse of power "
The defense also mentioned the meeting between Dana Rohrabacher, former American deputy, and Julian Assange, in 2017. According to them, the politician allegedly claimed to have been mandated by Donald Trump and to have scheduled an interview with the American president for him. present the results of this meeting.
Also according to Assange's lawyers, who have not provided any evidence on this point at this stage, a proposal for an agreement has been made with the Australian: legal proceedings could be dropped in the United States in exchange for information on the source of emails from the Democratic Party published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. A version of the facts, however, disputed a few days ago by Dana Rohrabacher himself.
"Brandishing the threat of prosecution in exchange for information shows that the accusation is vitiated by political motives and abuse of power. It shows that the line between executive power and justice is blurred, ” added Edward Fitzgerald.
