The arrest comes some 24 hours after WikiLeaks claimed that Assange had been subject to a sophisticated spying operation, with the obtained data presumably being transferred to US authorities.
Speaking at the UK court, Assange’s lawyer stated that his client had a reasonable excuse to breach the bail conditions and fail to surrender to UK authorities, but refused to present evidence for that. Further, the lawyer said that the judge in the original case was biased against Assange. The judge rejected the allegation as “laughable”.
Still, the UK judge found Assange guilty of breaching bail and sentenced him to 12 month over this misdeed. The US has until 12 June to submit all the necessary documents regarding its request for Assange’s extradition to the US. The whistle-blower’s lawyer announced that they would be fighting the US extradition request. The next hearing on Assange’s case will take place on 2 May, with the whistle-blower taking part via a video link.
“This is the situation, which violated all elements of international law, human rights […] It is an act that affects human rights, international conventions, primarily because not all the information was transparent”, Assange’s lawyer Carlos Poveda told Sputnik, commenting on his arrest.
Ecuador’s foreign minister announced the suspension of Julian Assange’s citizenship, citing “various irregularities found in his paperwork”. The country’s interior ministry has accused Assange and WikiLeaks of interfering in Ecuador’s affairs. The ministry also claims that it suspects two Russian hackers, allegedly linked to Assange, of the same misconduct.
At the same time, Australia vowed to continue providing consular support to the arrested whistleblower and stated that its diplomats will seek to visit him in custody. The country approved releasing a new passport for Assange in September 2018, after halting the process for some time due to his issues with British authorities.
