Sputnik
The trial against the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is not only a persecution of him, but also of freedom of expression and access to information, lawyer Carlos Poveda Moreno assures in an interview for Sputnik.
“It is not only a personal persecution of Julian, but a persecution of freedom of expression and access to information. Under these situations, I believe that all States that believe in democracy, in human rights, should be in favor of [Assange] and not against, with complicity or collusion,” he says.
The expert, who is part of the international defense of the founder of WikiLeaks, considers the judicial deployment against the journalist “incredible.”
“It is incredible that all the state power has been for the persecution, for the trial and the possibility of extradition of Julian Assange for exercising and defending a constitutional and human right,” he points out.
Assange will have hearings on his case again on February 20 and 21 in London, where it will be decided whether he continues to dispute the ruling on his extradition to the United States in British courts. He is accused of 18 criminal charges and faces 175 years in prison in the United States.
As one of the last possibilities to avoid setting foot on American soil, the activist could also go to the European Court of Human Rights.
In this regard, Poveda Moreno adds that, of the 18 charges formulated by Washington, 17 correspond to freedom of expression and constitutional amendments, and one concerns an alleged computer hacking.
If he is extradited, “it would be a serious precedent (…), a disastrous precedent” for the media, he highlights.
The WikiLeaks organization was founded by Assange in 2006, but gained strong recognition in 2010, when it published large-scale leaks of classified government information, particularly from the United States.
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