LONDON – A Briton issued a ruling monday rejected a request through lawyers from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to postpone his extradition hearing until next year to give his lawyers more time to respond to U. S. accusations that he conspired with hackers to download classified information.
The request for adjournment came on the first day of a london court hearing where Assange is fighting U. S. prosecutors to send him to the United States for trial on espionage charges.
U. S. prosecutors have accused the 49-year-old Australian of paying 18 fees for computer espionage and misuse after WikiLeaks published secret U. S. army documents a decade ago. Rates incur a 175-year prison sentence.
Assange’s lawyers say the lawsuits are a politically-based abuse of force that will stifle press freedom and endanger journalists around the world.
The U. S. Department of Justice has expanded its case opposed to Assange into a new indictment announced in June, has not filed new charges, but Assange’s attorney Mark Summers said it was “a highly unlikely task” for the legal team. the new accusations in time for Monday’s hearing, especially since he only had “limited access” to imprisoned Assange.
He said district judge Vanessa Baraitser eliminated new U. S. claims, which she said were rejected by the defense “without warning. “
The sentencing opinion derailed the request, saying that the defense had denied a prior option in August to postpone the hearing. The defense then called for the case to be postponed until January. Baraitser refused, saying Assange’s lawyers had “enough time” before Monday to express their concerns.
The case has already been blocked by the coronavirus pandemic for months.
Assange, who spent 16 months in a British prison, sat on the bench of the Old Bailey Criminal Court and officially denied the US extradition request. Assange, who according to the lawyers suffered good physical and intellectual form as a result of his ordeal, wore a suit and Ate and spoke obviously to verify his call and date of birth.
Several dozen followers, as well as fashion designer Vivienne Westwood and Assange’s wife Stella Moris, piled up outdoors in court, singing, drumming and calling their demands a risk to press freedom.
“Julian Assange is the trigger, he’s kind to all the corruption in the world,” Westwood said.
U. S. officials say Assange conspired with former U. S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and thousands of secret diplomatic cables and army archives on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
June’s new indictment accuses Assange of recruiting hackers in meetings in Europe and Asia, recruiting a teenager to hack into the computer of an associate WikiLeaks modeler, and conspiring with members of hacking teams known as LulzSec and Anonymous. U. S. Prosecutors say the evidence underscores Assange’s efforts to download and disclose classified information, accusations that shape the basis of crime charges.
Assange’s lawyers, however, claim that he is a journalist entitled to First Amendment coverage and claim that leaked documents revealed irregularities through the U. S. military. 11 people, joining two Reuters journalists.
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Assange’s legal problems began in 2010, when he was arrested in London at sweden’s request, which sought to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault through two women. He refused Stockholm, saying he feared illegal extradition or restitution to the United States or the U. S. criminal camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In 2012, Assange sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy, where he emerged from the success of the British and Swedish government, but was also a prisoner, unable to abandon the small diplomatic project in London. he deteriorated and was expelled from the embassy in April 2019. La british police arrested him without delay for resigning his bail in 2012.
Sweden abandoned sexual offence investigations in November 2019 because it had been a long time since, Assange remains in The High Security Prison of Belmarsh in London awaiting the extradition decision.
The case is expected to continue until early October. The sentence is expected to take weeks or even months until its verdict, and the lost party will likely appeal.