Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange began appeal proceedings in the UK Supreme Court on Thursday, hoping to prevent his extradition to the US, his fiancée said. On December 10, the High Court overturned a trial court decision opposing the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States. The latter accuse him of having disseminated, from 2010, more than 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic activities, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Read alsoUK court overturns refusal to extradite Julian Assange to US on appeal
Prosecuted in particular for espionage, he risks if he is tried in the United States up to 175 years in prison. This case represents, according to its supporters, a serious attack on the freedom of the press. Julian Assange’s fiancée, Stella Moris, said on Twitter that he filed an appeal on Thursday. Stella Moris, a lawyer and mother of her two children, said a decision on whether to go ahead with a Supreme Court review of the case was not expected until the third week of January. During the appeal hearing about his extradition at the end of October, the United States had sought to reassure on the treatment which would be reserved for the founder of WikiLeaks.
Read alsoWikiLeaks: New attempt by the United States to extradite Julian Assange
The High Court judges pointed out that the assurances provided by the United States were “solemn undertakings offered by one government to another“. Incarcerated in a high security prison near London for two and a half years, Julian Assange was arrested by British police in April 2019 after spending seven years in the London embassy of Ecuador where he had taken refuge while he was out on bail. He then feared extradition to the United States or Sweden where he was the subject of rape proceedings since abandoned.
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