Joe Biden:
Considering dropping prosecution against Assange
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been in prison in the UK for five years to the day (see video above). The US government wants to put him on trial on espionage charges. However, President Joe Biden has now made it clear that consideration is being given to dropping the criminal proceedings against Assange.
Australia's government had previously submitted such a request. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had already expressed concern about his countryman Assange during a state visit to the USA last October. "Mr. Assange has already paid a considerable price - and enough is enough." Biden's statement about possibly dropping the criminal proceedings is "encouraging." The Wikileaks founder himself also spoke of a "ray of hope" and a "positive step."
The US government accuses the 52-year-old of stealing and publishing secret material from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with Chelsea Manning, thereby endangering the lives of whistleblowers. Assange was arrested exactly five years ago, on April 11, 2019. He had previously sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years.
"He is not doing well"
The Australian faces up to 175 years in prison in the USA. According to the head of the Wikileaks disclosure platform, Kristinn Hrafnssson, Assange has suffered physically and mentally. "He is not well. What keeps him alive is his family and the enormous support from outside. No one would be in a good state after spending five years in prison, with this very uncertain future and constant anger."
The charges against Assange were brought under former President Donald Trump, so he is said to be fearful of his re-election.
Kommentare
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser,
die Kommentarfunktion steht Ihnen ab 6 Uhr wieder wie gewohnt zur Verfügung.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
das krone.at-Team
User-Beiträge geben nicht notwendigerweise die Meinung des Betreibers/der Redaktion bzw. von Krone Multimedia (KMM) wieder. In diesem Sinne distanziert sich die Redaktion/der Betreiber von den Inhalten in diesem Diskussionsforum. KMM behält sich insbesondere vor, gegen geltendes Recht verstoßende, den guten Sitten oder der Netiquette widersprechende bzw. dem Ansehen von KMM zuwiderlaufende Beiträge zu löschen, diesbezüglichen Schadenersatz gegenüber dem betreffenden User geltend zu machen, die Nutzer-Daten zu Zwecken der Rechtsverfolgung zu verwenden und strafrechtlich relevante Beiträge zur Anzeige zu bringen (siehe auch AGB). Hier können Sie das Community-Team via unserer Melde- und Abhilfestelle kontaktieren.