Hundreds of people gathered in Paris and several French cities on Tuesday, February 20, shouting “Free Julian Assange!” to support the WikiLeaks founder, who is trying to avoid extradition to the United States for publishing secret documents, writes Le Figaro.
Several hundred demonstrators gathered at the Place de la République in Paris at the call of the League for Human Rights (LDP) and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), in the presence of activists and deputies from left-wing political parties.
“For the last five years the British have kept him in prison without any legal basis (…). we must demand from our governments that they stand up for press freedom,” said Dominique Pradali, president of the International Federation of Journalists.
Similar rallies were planned in 17 cities in France. In Bordeaux, about 300 people formed a human chain around the Mirror of Water fountain in front of the Place de la Bourse, chanting “Free Assange!” About sixty activists expressed support for the journalist in Toulouse.
“This is an emergency, France must provide asylum to Julian Assange. Providing asylum to Assange is an absolute necessity, and the president can decide on this today,” Arnaud Le Gall, a member of the New People's Ecological and Social Union, said in Paris.
British justice on Tuesday and Wednesday is considering filing an appeal against Assange's extradition to the United States, accepted by the British government in June 2022. There he faces up to 175 years in prison. He is accused of publishing, since 2010, more than 700 thousand secret documents relating to US military and diplomatic activities, in particular in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Earlier that day, an Izvestia correspondent in the UK showed how protesters gathered near the Supreme Court in London, where on February 20, the extradition case against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States began.
The journalist's wife, Stella, and lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, called on protesters to continue advocating for Assange's release. Assange's case concerns not only himself, but also all journalists and editors in the world, the lawyer said and thanked those present.
Julian Assange is in custody in the UK. Washington charged him with 18 counts, including violating the Espionage Act and disclosing classified information. On the charges brought, he faces 175 years in prison.
Since 2012, Assange has been hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after being accused of sexual assault and rape in Sweden and facing extradition to the United States. Seven years later, the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission handed Assange over to the British authorities, and the journalist was placed in prison for violating bail conditions.
On December 2, 2022, the WikiLeaks founder filed an appeal against the decision to extradite himself to US authorities to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The authority confirmed the receipt of the petition. On May 5, 2023, Assange wrote a letter to King Charles III of Great Britain asking him to visit him in prison.
Later, on July 10, 2023, Stella Assange stated that her husband’s health was constantly deteriorating. She told how Julian suffered a stroke in October 2021 and now has to take medication.
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