As of: March 26, 2024, 11:03 a.m
By: Paula Völkner
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Assange has been trying to stop his extradition to the USA for years.
He faces life imprisonment there.
A decisive verdict is now expected in London.
London – In February, the last court hearing for the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in London ended without a verdict.
A decisive verdict in the legal dispute over Assange's extradition is expected on Tuesday (March 16).
A decision is to be made in London as to whether the Australian journalist can appeal against Great Britain's decision to extradite him to the USA.
Assange has been in a British maximum security prison since April 2019.
Great Britain has agreed to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the USA in 2022.
Since then, Assange has been trying to take action against the decision.
If the court in London decides that Assange cannot appeal the extradition, the WikiLeaks founder will only have one court left - the European Court of Human Rights.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in 2020 after a court hearing in London.
The founder of the disclosure platform Wikileaks, Julian Assange, has been resisting extradition from Great Britain to the USA for years.
© Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire/dpa
How Julien Assange became an enemy of the state in the USA
In 2010, the disclosure platform WikiLeaks, which Assange had founded four years earlier, published video from an on-board camera on a US military helicopter.
You could see a scene in which civilians in Iraq were shot at by the US army.
Thousands of confidential documents were also published, which had to do with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, among other things.
The then soldier and IT specialist Chelsea Manning had released the classified documents to WikiLeaks.
Assange was investigated in the USA as a result of the publication.
He became an enemy of the state.
In 2010, Swedish prosecutors also issued an arrest warrant against Assange on suspicion of sexual offenses.
Assange fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London to seek political asylum, which Ecuador granted him.
Assange remained in the embassy until 2019.
If extradited, Assange faces life in prison in the USA
The Swedish public prosecutor's office closed the investigation against Assange in 2017.
From the perspective of the public prosecutor, the question of guilt has not been clarified.
In 2019, the whistleblower was arrested by British police.
The reason for the arrest: Assange had violated the terms of his probation.
Since then he has been in the British prison in Belmarsh.
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If Assange were extradited to the USA, he would face trial there for conspiracy and publishing sensitive US defense data.
In the USA, the 52-year-old faces up to 175 years in prison.
There have been repeated reports about Assange's poor physical condition.
Experts recently described the native Australian as depressed and at risk of suicide.
Human rights organizations and journalist associations around the world are campaigning for Assange's release.
Tina Groll, chairwoman of the German Journalists' Union, sees Assange's extradition as having far-reaching consequences for journalism worldwide, she said in February, when the Assange case was last heard in London.
“The sword of Damocles of criminal prosecution would hang over whistleblowers who contact media professionals with explosive information,” explained Groll.
Last hope European Court of Human Rights?
If Assange is vindicated in Britain's High Court on Tuesday and is able to appeal the extradition, a full appeal hearing would begin and the extradition request would be reconsidered,
The Guardian
reported .
If the judges in London refuse to allow Assange to appeal, the 52-year-old's legal recourse in Great Britain would be exhausted.
The last option for Assange to take legal action against the extradition would then be to go to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
In theory, the decisions of the ECHR are also binding for Great Britain as a non-EU state.
However, how the Court would decide and whether Great Britain would actually adhere to such a decision is unclear.
Deal between Assange and USA?
According to reports in the
Wall Street Journal
, the US Justice Department is considering proposing a deal to Assange.
If he pleads guilty, a deal could be reached that could lead to his release from British prison,
WJS
reported , citing information from insiders.
Assange's lawyers said there was "no indication" that Washington wanted to change its approach.
The decision of the London judges on the possibility of appeal is to be announced on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m.
(pav)