"This case is intended to essentially determine whether he will live or die."
Stella Assange reiterated this today, regarding the consequences for her husband Julian of the two crucial hearings scheduled tomorrow and Wednesday before the High Court in London to decide the fate of the final appeal of the defense of the Australian activist and journalist - co-founder of WikiLeaks - against his highly contested extradition proceedings from the United Kingdom to the USA.
Julian Assange "will not survive" a possible confirmation of the green light for the transfer, Stella said in a new interview with the BBC, released on the eve of the court date, repeating almost word for word what was said a few days ago in a press conference.
Interview granted, moreover, while indignation is rising in the Western world over the death - which has meanwhile occurred in a Russian penal colony - of Alexey Navalny, opponent of Vladimir Putin.
As well as against the backdrop of an escalation of pressure from the Australian government on the British and American allies for the release of Assange and to prevent him from risking dying in prison sooner or later.
His wife - a South African lawyer who bore two children to the creator of WikiLeaks during the years in which he was a refugee in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and who then married him in prison - highlighted his physical and mental health conditions more precarious than Julian after almost
5 years of solitary confinement in London's gloomy Belmarsh maximum security prison, where he remains locked up awaiting the outcome of his extradition despite the fact that he no longer has any pending criminal charges in the Kingdom.
And he then recalled how the hearings tomorrow and the day after tomorrow represent a last attempt before the British justice system to block his delivery - already authorized on a political level by the conservative government in London - to the United States: a country in which Julian risks, at least on paper, a monstrous sentence of up to 175 years in prison for having previously disclosed through WikiLeaks (and partly through large international newspapers such as the New York Times or the Guardian) 700,000 confidential (authentic) documents relating to
US military and diplomatic activities, including war crimes attributed to American forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.
And where an investigation was opened against him based on unprecedented accusations of violation of the old Espionage Act of 1917, a law never applied in over a century for events involving the media publication of documents or top secret material of any kind.
The High Court of London will have to rule at second instance on the defense's appeal against the British judge of first instance's no to the admission of a further appeal to stop the extradition.
The verdict is expected after the second hearing and if that no were confirmed, the possibilities for legal action within the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom would be exhausted, remarked Stella Assange.
Adding that in that case there would only remain the option - of dubious effectiveness, given the precedents - of an emergency appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, to be presented within 24 hours: a deadline beyond which the British authorities could at that point - if desired - proceed to extradite the former Australian Scarlet Pimpernel overseas anyway.
The Assange Italy Committee mobilizes, 'Let's stop the extradition'
"He who revealed the war crimes is being persecuted, those who committed them are at large."
With these words the 'Assange Italy Committee' recalls that tomorrow and Wednesday the final hearing on the request for Julian Assange's extradition to the USA will be held at the High Court in London.
"For having worked as a journalist - he adds - he has already spent 7 years as a political refugee and the last 5 as a prisoner in Belmarsh, known as the British Guantanamo. Day X has arrived. Let's stop the extradition".
"Hitting Assange - continues the Committee in a note - does not only mean destroying the man, but sending an
intimidating message to all those who carry out true, free and independent journalism, which each of us needs to understand the reality that confronts us surrounds."
The Committee therefore participates in the "global campaign" promoted by the wife of the founder of Wikileaks, Stella Assange, and is
meeting for a protest tomorrow at 5pm in Piazza Liberty, in front of the British consulate in Milan.
Five Star delegation in London tomorrow
"Tomorrow a delegation from the 5 Star Movement will be in London to follow the hearing of the British High Court of Justice on the appeal presented against the extradition of Julian Assange to the United States, where he risks 175 years in prison. Together with the Five Star MEP Sabrina Pignedoli, and many other MEPs from different political groups, we will make our voice heard in defense of
freedom of the press, the cornerstone of democracy, which the West must defend and not persecute if it wants to be, and not just in
words, truly different from the regimes antidemocratic. Julian has already suffered unjustly and for too long: now this barbarity
must end with his release, certainly not with his handing over to those who want to lock him up for life."
This was declared by M5S deputy Stefania Ascari.
The M5S leader, Giuseppe Conte, in a long post on his social media, hoped that Assange would not be extradited.
"It is the first time - he explains - that a journalist who makes public even inconvenient information about crimes and torture is placed on the same level as any spy who betrays his own country by passing documents to the enemy. On this point, the government's attitude American has not seen any changes, going from the Trump administration to that of Biden."
"Our wish - he concludes - is a hymn to freedom of the press. A hymn that must know neither limitations nor borders. A hymn that is valid everywhere".
Bologna gives the ok to honorary citizenship
The city council of Bologna has voted on a resolution to confer honorary citizenship on Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks in prison in the United Kingdom and at risk of extradition to the United States.
The consensus on the measure was bipartisan: the resolution and its immediate execution were approved with 32 votes in favor and one non-voter.
The green light comes on the eve of the final hearing in London on the Australian journalist's extradition request.
"The persecution of Assange undermines the right to free and independent information and disseminating news of public interest is a key principle of freedom of the press", reads the resolution.
Concept reiterated by PD secretary Federica Mazzoni: "The Assange affair, in addition to deserving support for the serious violations of his rights as a prisoner, demonstrates that doing one's job well as a journalist by telling facts and truth can be dangerous today, to the detriment of freedom of
expression, of freedom itself and of life".
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