Originally appeared at ZeroHedge
Assuming he is successfully extradited (legal experts say there is a chance he might be able to successfully fight extradition, despite the blatant antipathy expressed toward him by British judges), Julian Assange will stand trial in a courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia where prosecutors from the Eastern District of Virginia will try to prove that he broke US law by goading Chelsea Manning into turning over hundreds of thousands of classified documents.
To recap: Prosecutors surprised Assange’s supporters when they revealed in their extradition warrant that, rather than pursuing him on espionage charges, or charges related to Wikileaks’ publication of the classified documents, only one charge had been levied against Assange: conspiracy to hack a government computer.
If convicted, he could face a maximum of five and a half years in prison.
In the Assange indictment, prosecutors claimed that after Manning had already handed over hundreds of thousands of documents to Wikileaks, Assange tried to help the former Army private and intelligence analyst crack a password that would have allowed her to access hundreds of thousands of documents.
However, Assange never succeeded in cracking the password, at least not as far as prosecutors are aware. What he did allegedly do was conspire with Manning to transmit the documents she had succeeded in stealing, while – and this is key – encouraging Manning to turn over more documents when she expressed reluctance.
To support its case, the government has obtained chat logs from March 2010 showing Manning communicating with a mysterious individual who alternatively went by the handles “Ox” and “pressassociation”. The government believes this user was Assange. After transmitting hundreds of thousands of war logs from Iraq and Afghanistan and detainee assessment briefs from Guantanamo Bay, Manning said her stash of secret documents had run dry.
“After this upload, that’s all I really have got left.”
To which her co-conspirator replied: “Curious eyes never run dry in my experience.”
The indictment also references a claim made by Manning during her court martial statement that she had discussed the value of the Guantanamo detainee assessments with the person alleged to be Assange.
“During my conversation with Nathaniel, I asked him if he thought the DABs were of any use to anyone. Nathaniel indicated, although he did not believe that they were of political significance, he did believe that they could be used to merge into the general historical account of what occurred at Guantanamo.”
Manning added: “After this discussion, I decided to download the data.”
That’s it.
As for how they intend to conclusively prove that Assange was the individual who corresponded with Manning on the Jabber chat service they were using…well…that hasn’t yet been revealed.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International has become the latest organization to warn the UK not to extradite Assange to the US, out of concern that he could face human rights violations while there, while adding that the legal mechanism that allowed British police to enter the embassy has not yet been made clear.
“Amnesty International calls on the UK to refuse to extradite or send in any other manner Julian Assange to the USA where there is a very real risk that he could face human rights violations, including detention conditions that would violate the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment and an unfair trial followed by possible execution, due to his work with Wikileaks.
“We are aware of allegations of rape and other sexual violence against Julian Assange, which should be properly investigated in a way that respects the rights of both the complainants and the accused and be brought to justice if there is sufficient evidence against him. If Sweden decides to pursue an extradition of Mr. Assange from the UK, there must be adequate assurances that he would not be extradited or otherwise sent to the USA.
“It remains unclear what formal process took place to allow the UK authorities to enter the Ecuadorian embassy and detain Julian Assange, who had reportedly had his Ecuadorian citizenship suspended yesterday. We urge the UK authorities to comply with the assurances provided to Ecuador that he would not be sent anywhere he could face the death penalty, torture or other ill-treatment.”
As the Assange’s legal team prepares to fight extradition, Manning is still sitting in a Virginia jail, after spending a month in solitary confinement, for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury, a tactic that the government is using to try and coerce answers out of her.
But if there’s one takeaway from this case, it’s that the charges aren’t what’s important, as Tulsi Gabbard so eloquently pointed out.
The arrest of #JulianAssange is meant to send a message to all Americans and journalists: be quiet, behave, toe the line. Or you will pay the price.
— Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) April 11, 2019
Read the indictment below:
Assange Indictment (1) by on Scribd
They will lay other charges, the law is a tool of the state in the USA, guilt or innocence is irrelevant.
yep once there they’ll find some new reasons to hold him liable for a much much longer period than 5 years – remember moronistan (aka usa), run by a criminally insane and corrupt to the core hitleristic junta, never forgives and never forgets. fatso and bedbugcrazy bolton and just plain evil abrams emulate hitler’s merry band of criminals, goehring, himmler, heydrich and goebbels.
Five years of political prisoner special treatment might well be enough – remember, Milosevic was taken in custody to the Hague in 2001 and died there in 2006. Milosevic, representing himself, actually defeated the ICC charges against him, and was posthumously exonerated (buried in depths of an ICC report). But one of two things happened to him in ICC custody – either the extreme stress killed him early, or the imminent embarrassment to both ICC and NATO of Milosevic being exonerated and publicly released, led to something being introduced into his totally controlled food and living environment to make the problem go away. In these political show trials, whether is in an open court or closed, there is no going backwards for the prosecution – it is deemed ‘too big to fail’.
I’d go for the second alternative – something being introduced into his totally controlled food and living environment etc – which has been my take on that situation since day one. Milosevic could not be allowed to be found not guilty and thus – heart attack, easy to induce and the west, in the shape of kid-fiddler clinton, that started the entire balkan rigmarole could breath easy again.
Assange is a different item never the less, well liked and eyes on the criminally insane and to the core corrupt junta that is running moronistan.
Assange will never be released, they will make an example out of him, 30 years minimum, and regular torture sessions, it’s the American way.
Note the following: [Page 4] Count One. [#4] “an offence begun and committed OUTSIDE the jurisdiction of any particular state or district of the United States” – so, technically, Assange was NOT in violation of U$ law! FREE ASSANGE!
Manning has very recently been taken back into prison custody – after refusing to give further testimony. Manning’s sentence was commuted by Obama in final days of office – but not pardoned – so original charges and conviction still stand. Most likely prosecutors were looking for further testimony from Manning in last months for two reason – to try and get statements compromising Assange (rather obvious as why now), and to try and get Manning to contradict own previous statements, which would give prosecutors power and leverage over Manning’s continued freedom, and thus ability to blackmail Manning into being prosecution asset. Manning has actually point blank refused and in response US authorities have re-incarcerated Manning indefinitely.
Ok. so they are admitting the authenticity of the files. Every single thing of the criminal acts brought to light should also be prosecuted.
The US has the burden of showing that the files are SECRET. Other suited groups related to wikileaks should bring suits against all persons/govt involved in the criminal acts brought to light. This would then make the officials choose whether these files are authentic and secret or not. While these side cases are ongoing, Assange case should plead suspension of proceedings until these side cases have been decided. Somebody should sue the US. Maybe an Iraqi.
Count 1(A) is dangerous. Just about any journalist who transacts with whistleblowers are included as well as the ordinary person.
Extraterritoriality much. No jurisdiction. Even the publication or retention or sharing is out of jurisdiction. All Manning has to do is show that it was her personal decision, that she could at any time refuse or desist, but she personally weighed the matter solely on her mind. That Assange did not persuade her.
US laws and process like a secret trial has no place against a foreign CIVILIAN, claiming asylum, and arrested outside US jurisdiction. Plead Human rights based on UN. Never use American law, Never accept American process.
Tulsi’s tweet again proves why the establishment and MSM hate her so vehemently.
Tulsi’s tweet shows, once again why she is the only candidate running for election to the Presidency of moronistan worthy of a vote and worthy of being sworn in by the Chief Justice on 21st January 2021. No doubt, if there is even the slightest chance she will succeed, she will be terminated forthwith.
clever stratagem to present illegal use of a protected password which will be enough to get him stateside and after that anything can happen. remember that moronistan (aka usa) never forgets and never forgives, so and unless uk decides to keep him, he’s in for some very rough time.