He The High Court of London decided this Tuesday to postpone its decision on the appeal in the case of Australian journalist Julian Assangefounder of the WikiLeaks portal, so will not be extradited to the United States immediately.
Judges Victoria Sharp and Adam Johnson, who evaluated the parties' arguments for several weeks, considered that an eventual appeal by Assange could partially succeed, so they offered the United States Government the opportunity to “offer guarantees” against those arguments.
According to the opinion, The court has given the US Government three weeks to provide satisfactory assurances that Assange may invoke in his defense the First Amendment of the US Constitution, relating to the protection of freedom of expression.
Guarantees will also be needed that the Australian will not be prejudiced at trial because of his nationality, that he will be afforded the same First Amendment protections as a US citizen, and that he will not be subjected to the death penalty.
If these guarantees are not given, then Assange will be granted permission to appeal, but if they are offered, the parties will have the opportunity to present further observations at a hearing on May 20, in order to make a decision on the possibility of appeal. .
The US asks that Assange be extradited for 18 crimes of espionage and computer intrusionafter his explosive revelations on his portal, which between 2010 and 2011 revealed alleged US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to Assange's defense, these crimes are punishable by 175 years in prison in the United States.
Assange was arrested for the first time in 2010 at the request of Sweden for a case that has been archived, but in 2012 he took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, to be arrested in 2019 by the British Police, once that country removed him. his asylum status, and has since been in Belmarsh prison, outside London.
EFE
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