British justice will say on Tuesday whether it will grant WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a last appeal against his extradition to the United States, where he is being prosecuted for a massive leak of documents under a 1917 espionage law.
After two days of hearings in February, two judges of the High Court of London, Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson, must deliver their decision from 10:30 a.m. local (11:30 a.m. in France), according to the court agenda published Monday.
The ECHR as a last resort
They must decide whether or not to grant the 52-year-old Australian the right to appeal his extradition to the United States, accepted in June 2022 by the British government.
In the event of defeat, Julian Assange would go to the European Court of Human Rights in the hope of having the extradition suspended, according to his wife Stella Assange.
American justice is prosecuting Julian Assange for having published since 2010 more than 700,000 confidential documents on American military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His state of health is worrying
The founder of WikiLeaks faces 175 years in prison in this case, which has become a symbol of the threats to press freedom.
He was arrested by British police in 2019 after seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, in order to avoid extradition to Sweden in a rape investigation, dismissed in 2019.
In recent weeks, those close to Julian Assange, detained for five years in the high security Belmarsh prison in London, have warned of the deterioration of his state of health.
His defense also highlights a risk of suicide in the event of extradition. He was absent from the February hearings because he was unwell.
This article is originally published on vosgesmatin.fr
