Julian Assange’s health is visibly deteriorating amidst the stress of tight deadlines to build a line of defense before the trial of his extradition to the U.S. it was reported by a member of the legal team of the founder of WikiLeaks Renata Avila.
“It is obvious that his health condition is worsening, in addition to the tremendous stress and emotional distress. Failure to properly structure his defense, training under such limited conditions only aggravates the case”, – Avila shared.
At present, Assange is in a British maximum security prison and has limited contact with his defence. Specialists provide medical care, while lawyers insist on candidates for doctors chosen by the founder of WikiLeaks. Avila criticizes the British authorities, calling the conditions of his detention “unjustified” and not meeting minimum essential living conditions.
Assange, accused of sexual harassment and rape in Sweden in 2010, has been in hiding since June 2012 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for fear of extradition to the Scandinavian country. In the morning of 11 April 2019, he was detained at the request of the United States. A court in London found him guilty of violating bail conditions and sentenced him to 11 months in prison. The extradition hearing began on 2 May.
U.S. authorities reported at the end of May that new charges were brought against Assange in 17 episodes of violation of the law on espionage and disclosure of classified information. Earlier he was charged with one count of conspiracy to break into a computer. If extradited to the U.S., Assanzhu faces years in prison.