In the coming months the British authorities can give up their plans for the extradition of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks to Sweden, where he is accused of raping two women. This means that the world famous journalist and Internet rebel, who has been hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June of last year, will be set “free”.
The recent statements made by
Ricardo Patino, Ecuador's Minister of Foreign Affairs, leads one to such
a conclusion. According to him, after the reelection for the third term
of president Rafael Correa, «Great Britain realized that for the next
four years Ecuador's position on Assange would not change». Given that
the minister expressed his hope that already this year the sides would
come to an agreement regarding the Australian's further destiny.
Not
only the firm position of Ecuadorian leader can push the British
towards the decision to stop prosecuting Assange. One must recall the
reason's for the WikiLeaks' founder's «voluntary confinement». According
to Assange, he chose such a destiny not due to what he believes to be
«ridiculous» accusations of the Swedish side. The real danger for the
journalist comes from the USA, where he can be brought from Stockholm.
The alleged rape was Pentagon's response to the published secret
materials about the military actions of the Americans in Iraq, says
Assange. And for such «misbehavior» Washington punishes very strictly,
up to the capital punishment.
However, strange as it
appears, the salvation for the Australian can also come from across the
ocean. These days in the US the court hearings on the case of the US
soldier Bradley Manning, accused of releasing a great deal of secret
documents to WikiLeaks, are coming to an end. Of all the documents he
handed over, the most scandalous was the video, in which the US soldiers
shoot Iraqi civilians. That video cause a massive reaction in the US
and all over the world, while Manning's personality according to the
British newspaper The Independent became «the symbol of American
hypocrisy». Julian Assange hopes that this court trials would help open
the eyes of the world community as far as the role of the US in today's
world is concerned and would force many people to view the situation
around the founder of WikiLeaks differently:
«Manning's
trial is a public beating of all those who is trying to open people's
eyes. This is also proved by the degrading circumstances of keeping him
under arrest. Not one single prisoner in the US has spent so much time
in jail before the verdict», says Assange recalling that Manning was
arrested back in 2010.
Depending on what Manning's
verdict will be - the judge will announce the verdict on March 15 –
Assange threatens to publish a new portion of documents revealing the US
military atrocities. And in that case he will act as a prosecutor
supported by the entire world community.
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