RUSSIA DEFENDS JULIAN ASSANGE, CALLING THE CHARGES ‘OSTENTATIOUSLY ABSURD’

Sat 23 April 2022:

On Saturday, Russia backed Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks. Assange is facing ‘ostentatiously absurd chares,’ according to Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She claimed that he has already been isolated for years because of his beliefs. She appears to have made a jab at ‘developed democracies.’

“In US J.#Assange faces up to 175 years in prison, which tells a lot about “developed democracies”. He is being punished on ostentatiously absurd charges, while he has already suffered many years of isolation for his beliefs, faced overt mental pressure & torture,” Zakharova was quoted as saying by Russian Embassy in South Arica on Twitter.

💬#Zakharova: In US J.#Assange faces up to 175 years in prison, which tells a lot about “developed democracies”. He is being punished on ostentatiously absurd charges, while he has already suffered many years of isolation for his beliefs, faced overt mental pressure & torture pic.twitter.com/YTrP3kVyeA

— Russia in RSA 🇷🇺 (@EmbassyofRussia) April 23, 2022

The UK Westminster Magistrate’s Court formally approved the extradition of Assange to the US on Wednesday. Whether he would be extradited or not now rests with UK Home Secretary Priti Patel. Assange’s lawyers have until May 18 to make submissions to Patel against his extradition.

Even if the UK home secretary signs the extradition order, Assange can appeal against it by judicial review, which involves a judge finding out whether the decision of a public body was lawful.

According to Assange’s legal team, releasing sensitive information exposed US malfeasance and was in the public interest.

Assange is wanted by the US on espionage charges after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified documents that shed light on war crimes committed by American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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