Hearings on the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange have been postponed until November due to the spread of the coronavirus, a judge of the Westminster Magistrate’s Court Vanessa Baraitser decided.
On Monday, lawyers presented additional arguments to delay the date of the hearing. Earlier, on April 7, they also asked to postpone the process, but the judge did not agree with them. The parties participated in the meeting by telephone. Hearings on Assange’s extradition were to begin on May 18, with a possible continuation in mid-July.
“They explained to me that there is no reason to believe that the preparation for the hearings with the participation of witnesses can be carried out remotely. The remote participation of the parties is unacceptable. The upcoming hearings on May 18 should be canceled and a new date set… Three-week hearings can be held after November 2. This is the earliest date”, – Judge Baraitser said, delivering the verdict.
It was planned to consider the extradition case in a court at Belmarsh prison, where Assange was detained. In this prison, several cases of coronavirus were recorded, two prisoners died. Lawyers assert that Assange has ill lungs and he is very likely to be seriously ill in case of infection with COVID-19.
Assange himself did not attend today’s hearing because of his health condition, as in the previous meeting. The defendant’s lawyers have stated several times that they fear for the state of health of the client and are afraid that during the escort to the video conference room with the court he may become infected with the coronavirus.
“We cannot meet with the client, and videoconferencing is dangerous from a medical point of view. With the exception of brief phone calls, we have not had direct access to Assange for a month. We can’t get the necessary access to him to prepare for the process, we cannot get proper instructions from him”, – Edward Fitzgerald, lawyer for the WikiLeaks founder, said while speaking in court.
The judge, announcing the decision, stated that she did not agree with the lawyer and did not consider the video conference room with the court in the prison dangerous for Assange. But she agreed that organizing the statements of witnesses, some of whom are abroad, is remotely impossible.
Fitzgerald initially proposed to postpone the hearing until September, when it will be possible to set dates for the meetings and organize statements by witnesses.
Lawyers representing the interests of the US government at the extradition court have previously stated that they agree with the idea of postponing the proceedings.
Assange, accused of sexual harassment and rape in Sweden in 2010, has been hiding since June 2012 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for fear of extradition to a Scandinavian country. On the morning of April 11, 2019, he was detained at the request of the United States. A court in London found him guilty of violating the conditions of bail and sentenced to 11 months in prison. Hearings on extradition began on May 2 last year.
Soon after, the US authorities announced that they had charged Assange with 17 episodes of violation of the law on espionage and the disclosure of classified information. If extradited to the United States, Assange will face imprisonment of up to 175 years.