Actually, Julian Assange sat for years in prison: Since 2012, the Wikileaks founder barricaded himself in a room in the Embassy of Ecuador in London. His arrest, he escaped nevertheless.
19. June 2012 began for Julian Assange on the condition that he described later as “detention without charge”. On this day, in front of nearly seven years, fled the Wikileaks founder in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and requested political asylum. Shortly before the appeal against his extradition to Sweden had failed.
There was issued in the autumn of 2010, the arrest warrant against the native Australians. The accusation: Assange should have raped in Sweden a woman and other women are sexually assaulted. The Wikileaks founder denies the to today and criticized the allegations as politically motivated. Once in Sweden, he feared he could be because of a Extradition Treaty to the USA.
Spying among friends
Washington sees Assange as an enemy of the state, since this on the platform Wikileaks in April 2010, the Video “Collateral Murder” published. It shows how the attack of a U.S. helicopter in Baghdad of eleven people, two journalists are killed, including.
Further publications followed. The Internet platform more than 250,000 confidential documents from US embassies around the world and made public, that the US secret service NSA spying on Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Embassy of Ecuador in London: Almost seven years, Julian Assange lived here in a confined space
Although there are no charges against Assange in the United States today – at least officially – but that Washington would not deal with whistleblowers squeamish, showed the arrest of Chelsea Manning’s – one of the most important sources for Wikileaks. She was sentenced to 35 years in prison before a pardon by US President Barack Obama in may 2017, after nearly seven years in military detention was released.
Food from the Pub
To apply for good reasons, therefore, for the founder of Wikileaks, asylum in the Ecuador Embassy. Since then he lived together with a cat, in less than 20 square meters large converted message to the office, which is probably the most important piece of furniture according to media reports, a daylight lamp is used. A garden of the Embassy. The contact with the outside world, the 47-Year-old by phone and Computer, held a shower had barely been in the Embassy premises built, food had to leave Assange out of a Pub to deliver it.
The Embassy voluntarily, he couldn’t leave. And this, although the Swedish prosecutors dropped the arrest warrant against him by the end of may 2017 fall. However, shortly after the Swedish decision, the British police announced that they would put Assange should he leave the Ecuadorian territory. The Australians had violated parole, according to the statement.
“Years in without sunshine”
And so cheered Assange after the dissolution of the Swedish arrest warrant while – but only from a respectful distance away from you. Via Twitter, he called the former decision an important victory “for me, and the UN human rights system”. At the same time, he complained at the time, “almost five years here in the Embassy without sunlight”. And from the balcony of the Embassy, Assange called out to his followers, the real war start now.
Also a kind of jail: Julian Assange in 2016 in his room in the Ecuadorian Embassy
This war, the Wikileaks founder, however, led behind the curtain of his self-chosen exile. And there it was gone of him getting worse over time. In February 2016, and his mother said to the Australian radio station ABC, Assange had pain heart problems, a chronic inflammation of the lungs and severe shoulder.
Unreasonably high penalties?
After Ecuador had withdrawn from him the diplomatic asylum, the arrests, the British authorities Assange now, because he had violated parole. Legal scholars consider this to be questionable. The Severity of such an offence is at the lower edge of the criminality, explains Nikolaos Gazeas, an expert on international criminal law, in an interview with DW. A warrant was, in view of the extreme situation in the Assange since years of living, disproportionate.
Screenshot of Wikileaks page from the year 2010 – since then, the platform has lost some of its credibility
It is, in truth, is a question Assange in the United States? The U.S. justice authorities to argue for more than two years, that they have determined against Assange, and there is already a charge against him prepared. In November of 2018, however due to a mishap that charges have been prepared against Assange, apparently, already. Accordingly, Assange conspiracy, theft of government property and a violation of the espionage be accused of the act.
A Hero gone astray
So it looks not good for the Wikileaks founder. His Reputation as a fighter for the freedom of expression has suffered in the past few years. So see Wikileaks suspected to cooperate with Russia. A storm of protest had triggered the organization in 2016, as you published the E-Mails, which showed that the leading representatives of the party Executive Committee of the US Democrats in the pre-election campaign for Hillary Clinton were biased and against a candidacy of the left-wing Bernie Sanders debates.
Is no longer willing to grant Assange diplomatic asylum: Ecuador President Lenin Moreno
Also Assange is suspected, he didn’t want to interfere in the French presidential election campaign. So Assange is in February of 2017, announced in the Russian newspaper “Izvestia”, to compromising information about the candidate and current President Emmanuel Macron publish. The much-heralded revelations were not the end, but Pro-government Russian media, such as Sputnik-News and Russia Today widespread assange’s announcement, as there had been in fact a scandal.
The restraint from Ecuador waned at least since the election, Lenín Moreno, President of the new Ecuadorian President in April 2017. Moreno himself described the Wikileaks founder as a “Hacker”. This was something he and his country opposed. Already during the presidential campaign, Moreno had warned Assange not to interfere in the politics of the South American country. In October 2017, he withdrew Assange, access to Internet and phone.
As a few weeks ago the photos appeared on the Internet, the Morenos dissolute and luxurious life style should show this immediately to the platform Wikileaks responsible for this. He also accused Assange abuse of Asylum. Although this denied the accusations, best, withdrew from Ecuador to him the diplomatic asylum and transferred him to the British police.