WikiLeaks' Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks prison in bail-jumping case

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post



LONDON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced on Wednesday to 50 weeks in a British prison for jumping bail. His sentencing comes a day before an extradition hearing in London related to separate charges in the United States for conspiring to hack a government password.

Assange, 47, who appeared in court at London’s Southwark Crown Court wearing a black jacket and gray sweater alongside a throng of international journalists, had faced up to a year in a British prison for his bail violation — the maximum penalty in Britain for such an offense. He broke his bail conditions in 2012 when he fled to the Ecuadoran Embassy in London after Sweden requested his extradition in a case involving sexual assault allegations.

At the trial, his lawyer Mark Summers argued that Assange failed to surrender to a British court seven year ago and so violated his bail because he had a reasonable fear that if he were extradited to Sweden he would be extradited to the United States and even onward to Guantanamo Bay.

Assange further feared “kidnap by the United States” and was “living under overwhelming fear of rendition,” Summers told the court. “It matters little whether his fears were reasonable or unreasonable,” he added, suggesting that those fears were in fact reasonable. Summers then read aloud a handwritten letter in which Assange wrote “I apologize unreservedly” for seeking refuge at the embassy.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange-sentenced-to-50-weeks-prison-in-bail-jumping-case/2019/05/01/d83c0190-6b6c-11e9-bbe7-1c798fb80536_story.html

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I guess they call this "putting him on ice".

[PJMcK]

1. Good

This man is dangerous.

[Cryptoad]

2. He thinking,,,,

"Damn I could be living in a Beach House in Russia with Snowden.!"

[MontanaMama]

3. Stinky is going to the clinky...

[forgotmylogin]

8. For less than a year.

After squatting at the embassy for seven years.

Wouldn't it have been easier to just serve the time? This would have been long over and forgotten about, unless he then proceeded as he did with hacked emails in 2016.

[MontanaMama]

9. Yep. I know. But it's better than nothing.

And I think there is more justice coming his way.

[gldstwmn]

10. Those were my thoughts as well.

He can't do 6 months for his overwhelming belief in "freedom of speech?" What he's really afraid of is being brought to the states.

[joshcryer]

11. He probably would've served less than a year in Sweden even if he was found guilty.

And there's no guarantee he would be found guilty for the simple fact that he could've pulled the "I forgot" card when he penetrated the woman without a condom on. It's such a fucking pedestrian thing he was charged for and his ego wouldn't let him go "I fucked up." Hell, initially Sweden wasn't even going to prosecute it because it was such a low bar. (This is not to diminish rules of consent or anything like that and what he did was rape. But put him in front of a jury and have him apologize profusely and say he forgot she wanted a condom and the jury would be wondering why the hell they're being tasked to bother with it.)

As far as I can tell the US extradition warrant wasn't even made for him until long after he was in the embassy, after Trump took office, he got the rape warrant in Sweden in 2010 and fled to the UK immediately. Fought for years, got into the embassy when it was looking like he was going back to Sweden (and in his own filings what he admitted to would've been rape).

His ego put him in bars and likely he will never see the light of day.

[treestar]

4. Extradition is a legal proceeding

so his fears of it are no excuse.

[Blue_Tires]

6. He'll find a way to stay longer

because out on the street his life won't be worth ten cents...

[joshcryer]

12. He is an Ecuadorian citizen.

My guess is that he'll fight the extradition to the US with tooth and nail and hope 1) the case falls apart in US courts because Manning isn't testifying (hey, Manning is still behind bars over that case, refusing to testify against Assange) 2) he can get out of jail and find a way out of the UK to get to Ecuador where they wouldn't extradite him.

The text messages that were released indicate that Manning and Assange had direct interactions and I've said from the beginning that Manning wouldn't roll on Assange.

[Blue_Tires]

13. He's persona non gratia in Ecuador too, isn't he?

[Chin music]

7. Guantanamo Bay just got a new Commander.

Wonder if that has anything to do w Assange possibly getting moved there? Trumps probably building a nice condo on the beach for him.