Jennifer Robinson, lawyer for the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assangeasked the president on Wednesday in Santiago Gabriel Boric to intercede for the Australian journalist so that “United States put an end to the case”a few days before his extradition process is resumed in London.
“As a matter of principle and for freedom of expression, we hope that President Boric will meet with us and support Julian Assange,” said Robinson, who participated in a conservatory on the case organized by the Latin American NGO Human Rights Without Borders (DHSF). ), in the National Library of the Chilean capital.
The High Court of London reported in April that it will continue on May 20 with Assange’s extradition processafter the United States presented the information requested in the form of guarantees about the treatment of the journalist in that country.
Washington claims the founder of WikiLeaks for 18 crimes of espionage, computer intrusion and dissemination of classified material, largely related to the actions of US forces in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“The case of Julian Assange amplifies the persecution of journalists around the world. “Since Assange began this journey of persecution, we have realized that governments do not hesitate for a second to confiscate computers and take legal measures against journalists,” denounced at the same event the editor-in-chief of the WikiLeaks portal, Kristinn Hrafnsson.
Assange was first arrested in 2010 at the request of Sweden for a case that was archived and then, in 2012, he took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
The British Police arrested him in 2019, once that country withdrew his asylum status, and since then he has been detained in the high-security prison of Belmarshsoutheast of London, waiting for his extradition to be resolved.
For the first time, US President Joe Biden acknowledged in public on April 10 that he “is considering” the request that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been making for months to close the case against Assange.
The director of the regional NGO Human Rights Without Borders, Juan Carlos Morago, told EFE that the Assange case “It is a tremendous injustice and a consummation of a violation of human rights.”
Added to the request by Assange’s lawyer was the one made this Wednesday by a group of pro-government deputies, who asked President Boric in a letter to “adhere to the request for Julian Assange’s freedom,” as did some of his Latin American peers, such as the Brazilian Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the Colombian Gustavo Petro or the Mexican Andrés López Obrador.
“On May 20, the hearing is set where his extradition to the United States will be decided, which, if effective, “It means being transferred to the State of Virginia where you risk 175 years in prison or the death penalty.”recalled the Chilean parliamentarians.
