Julian Assange denied bail
Julian Assange has been denied bail after prosecutors argued he had no respect for the rule of the law.
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Julian Assange has been denied bail after prosecutors argued he had no respect for the rule of the law, and did not care about losing other people’s bond money, a London court heard.
Judge Vanessa Baraitser remanded the Australian in custody because saying he still had an incentive to flee and that the outcome of the appeal was not decided.
“As a matter of fairness the US must be allowed to challenge and if he absconds they will have lost that opportunity,” she said.
The 49-year-old will remain behind bars, despite the same judge saying earlier this week that he should not be extradited to America because he was a suicide risk.
United States prosecutors strongly opposed the WikiLeaks founder’s application for bail on Wednesday night.
Clair Dobbin, appearing at Westminster Magistrates Court for the US, said that Assange, 49, has spent almost a decade avoiding being sent to America.
“Mr Assange regards himself as above the law… no cost is too great in terms of him avoiding extradition to the United States,” she said.
“Given Mr Assange’s conduct, there is no surety that would secure his attendance.
“The exceptional feature of this case is all the lengths Mr Assange expressly went to avoid being sent to the US.”
Ms Dobbin said Assange spent seven years in the Ecuadorean embassy in London to avoid charges in Sweden on rape claims.
He was sentenced to 50 weeks jail for breaching bail over the extradition to Sweden, which he has now served.
Ms Dobbin argued that Assange had boasted how he had helped super leaker Edward Snowden, who leaked National Security files in America, flee to Russia.
She cited an interview where Assange detailed how he had tried to secure private jets to get him to safety in Russia and booked him on different flights to confuse authorities.
“He has the potential and means to break even the most stringent of bail conditions,” she said.
Mexico president Andrés Manuel López Obrador has already offered Assange asylum, detailing his invitation in a press conference this week.
British taxpayers forked out $27 million for security costs while Assange was in the Ecuadorean embassy.
Edward Fitzgerald, for Assange, said the decision to refuse extradition earlier this week changed the ground on the case.
He said that for “centuries” in English law any time a court found that a case should be discharged that a person was entitled to bail.
“The natural consequence is that he should get his liberty, at least conditionally,” he said.
Mr Fitzgerald said that Assange had already served his sentence for the previous bail breach and was now simply held on remand.
He argued that Assange would live at a London address with his two children to fiancee Stella Morris, and that the house would also be offered as a bond.
Judge Baraister rejected those arguments and remanded him until his appeal was finalised, which was likely to begin as early as April in London’s High Court.
stephen.drill@news.co.uk
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