Assange Gets a Shot at Convincing Court

(Posted on 16/12/11)

Julian Assange, controversial founder of WikiLeaks and accused rapist, will get a shot in Britian's Supreme Court as he seeks to prevent being extradited to Sweden to face trial over alleged sex crimes.

The court's agreement to hear his arguments means he won't have to leave the country - at least until after the new year. The court released a statement that read, in part, "(we)...decided that seven justices will hear the appeal given the great public importance on the issue raised, which is whether a prosecutor is a judicial authority". Specifically, Assange's solicitors in the UK want the courts to rule that the Swedish police and lawyers have no right to order any kind of extradition since they are not "proper judicial authorities". It's interesting since earlier this month High Court judges John Thomas and Duncan Ouseley allowed Assange to apply to the Supreme Court in an effort to prove Europe's extradition processes were "flawed".

The WikiLeaks founder has been accused of rape, coercion and molestation against two Swedish women. It's been a year since his arrest and he's currently living under house arrest in a stunning country estate in England. He must wear an electronic bracelet around his ankle.

The lawyers who represent the two accusers in Sweden said these events have made things difficult for their clients, even though they're confident Assange would eventually be forced to return to stand trial. This latest move is supposed to be his final avenue to pursue before he's forced to face his accusers. That said, his solicitors say a further appeal to the European Court of Human Rights might be considered.

The American soldier who's been accused of providing Assange with hundreds of thousands of classified documents - documents that could jeopardize national security - was in an American courtroom on Friday. This hearing was cut short when Bradley Manning's lawyers demanded the judge overseeing the case recuse himself due to the potential of bias. The judge refused.