As of: February 19, 2024, 7:00 a.m
By: Christine Grateful
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75 MPs from the traffic light parties are calling for the release of Julien Assange.
(Symbolic image) © Jeff Moore/dpa
Joint appeal from the traffic light factions.
75 MPs sign a call calling for an end to the “political show trial”.
Frankfurt - One day before Julian Assange's appeal hearing against his extradition to the USA in London, members of the Bundestag made an appeal for his immediate release - and in very clear words.
“The political show trial against Assange must be ended immediately,” says the MPs’ letter, which is available exclusively to the Frankfurter Rundschau.
“He is entitled to a fair trial before the European Court of Human Rights.”
“Fatal signal”: 75 members of the Bundestag demand the immediate release of Julian Assange
As long as there is no final decision from there, he should under no circumstances be extradited to the USA.
There he was initially threatened with lengthy solitary confinement for the allegedly unlawful publication of diplomatic and other documents and, after being convicted, up to 175 years in prison.
“For these reasons, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture appealed to the United Kingdom government last week to stop any possible extradition of Julian Assange to the USA,” the appeal continues.
There is also sharp criticism of Assange's prison conditions, saying they are “unreasonable”.
75 members of the Bundestag from the traffic light parties signed the appeal.
The appeal was coordinated by the Green MP Max Lucks, Frank Schwabe from the SPD and the FDP MP Ulrich Lechte.
Lucks, who is chairman of his parliamentary group in the Bundestag's Committee for Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, told the Frankfurter Rundschau that Assange's release has been called for for years and also for fundamental reasons.
“His case is emblematic of the state of press freedom in Europe,” said Lucks.
“My British colleagues should contact their government and join us in demanding a hearing before the ECHR.” If Assange loses in the hearing, which is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, “it would be a fatal signal for courageous journalists all of Europe and breeding ground for the rampant anti-democratic backlash.”
Traffic light politicians launch appeal: “European human rights system also applies to Julian Assange”
Frank Schwabe, human rights policy spokesman for his group, said that the Assange case was also a test for the European situation on human rights and media freedom.
“The European human rights system also applies to Julian Assange,” he told the Frankfurter Rundschau.
“Britain cannot avoid this.
In case of doubt, the European Court of Human Rights gives the final verdict.”
The foreign policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group Ulrich Lechte explained that the outcome of the appeal against Assange would show “how seriously we take freedom of the press.” Assange has been made an example of for more than a decade.
“Now it would be time to stop the persecution or to grant him a fair trial before the European Court of Human Rights,” Lechte continued.
Julian Assange, now 52, has been in London's Belmarsh maximum security prison since 2019.
He had previously lived in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years as a political refugee to avoid arrest.
The USA is demanding his extradition because, together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, he published secret material about American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and also exposed American war crimes.
(
Christine Grateful)