Thu 07 September 2023:
A Paris court on Tuesday rejected a plea to grant Julian Assange refuge filed earlier this year on his behalf by the Robin des Lois organisation, RT reported.
French law requires “the individual applicant’s presence on the national territory or of the European Union” in order to make an asylum claim, and the circumstances of Assange’s detention “do not allow an exception” to the criterion, according to the Creteil commune court.
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Robin des Lois had requested that France allow Assange’s asylum application from the maximum-security Belmarsh prison in London, where the WikiLeaks founder has been held since 2019. The nonprofit argued that asylum rules were contrary to several international conventions and the preamble to the French constitution.
Emmanuel Ludot, who represented Robin des Lois, told AFP that the association does not plan to appeal. He urged French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti, who previously worked as Assange’s lawyer, to “at last take the matter into his own hands.”
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Assange, 52, has been behind bars since April 2019, when Ecuador revoked his asylum – reportedly at the request of the US – and turned him over to the British police. The WikiLeaks publisher had sought sanctuary at the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012, arguing the US was preparing to have him arrested on a manufactured pretext.
Last month, the US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, hinted at the possibility of a plea agreement, which could see Assange – a native of Australia – agreeing to plead guilty to lesser charges in return for being permitted to return home to serve any remaining prison time.
Assange has insisted that he violated no laws, American or otherwise, and that his publication of the documents provided by a US military whistleblower was legitimate journalism protected by the US Constitution.
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The US government has charged Assange with conspiracy to hack Pentagon systems under the Espionage Act in connection with the 2010 publishing of Iraq and Afghanistan war diaries. If convicted, Assange faces up to 175 years behind bars.
Assange, an Australian citizen, is being held in the UK, where authorities approved his extradition to the US last year. He is wanted for his alleged role in espionage and the dissemination of classified US military information.
In 2019, he was dragged out of Ecuador’s Embassy building in London, where he took refuge for more than seven years. If extradited to the US, Assange faces a prison sentence of up to 175 years.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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