WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange complained of hearing imaginary voices and music in detention and exhibiting suicidal impulses, a psychiatrist who examined him at a hearing in a courthouse said Tuesday (Sept. 22). London considering a US extradition request.
Read also: The battle over Julian Assange's extradition resumes in London
The 49-year-old Australian has a '
very high
'
suicide risk
if he were to be extradited to the United States which wants to try him for the release of hundreds of thousands of confidential documents, Michael Kopelman has said in criminal court from Old Bailey in London.
This psychiatrist has spoken to Mr. Assange about twenty times.
"Severe depression" and suicidal urges
He mentioned
Julian Assange's
"
severe depression
" and "
psychotic symptoms
", including auditory hallucinations, seen in his cell at Belmarsh High Security Prison, near London.
Julian Assange told the psychiatrist that he heard voices telling him "
you are dust, you are dead, we are coming to get you
".
The conditions of detention of the founder of WikiLeaks had been denounced by the UN rapporteur on torture.
The suicidal urges of Mr. Assange "
come from clinical factors (...) but it is the imminence of the extradition which will trigger the attempt
", declared the psychiatrist, estimating that his state "
will deteriorate considerably
" s' he is extradited.
Julian Assange's companion, Stella Moris, has also expressed fears that he will commit suicide, leaving their two young sons without a father.
James Lewis, representing the U.S. government, questioned Mr. Kopelman about the veracity of some of Julian Assange's claims, suggesting that the founder of WikiLeaks may have made them up.
Read also: Julian Assange: Washington strengthens its accusations against the founder of WikiLeaks
Julian Assange was arrested in April 2019 after seven years behind the walls of the Ecuadorian diplomatic representation, where he took refuge after violating the conditions of his bail, fearing extradition to the United States, which accuses him of 'endangering American service sources.
It is up to the British courts to determine whether the American request for extradition submitted to it meets a certain number of legal criteria, and in particular if it is not disproportionate or incompatible with human rights.
Julian Assange is being prosecuted in particular for espionage in the United States, where he risks 175 years in prison, for having disseminated from 2010 onwards more than 700,000 classified documents on American military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
