London (AFP)

Claimed by the American justice system for having published a mass of classified information, the founder of Wikileaks Julian Assange will endeavor from Monday to convince British justice to refuse to extradite him to the United States.

Controversial figure, the 48-year-old Australian said in a preliminary hearing that he refused to "submit to an extradition for a job of journalism which collected many rewards and protected many people". He faces up to 175 years in prison in the United States.

First prosecuted for hacking, Assange saw the charges against him increase in May when the American justice system charged him with 17 additional counts, under anti-spy laws. His supporters denounce in these lawsuits a serious danger for press freedom.

The United States accuses him in particular of having endangered some of their sources by publishing in 2010 on Wikileaks 250,000 diplomatic cables and 500,000 confidential documents relating to the activities of the American army in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Among these documents was a video showing civilians killed by gunfire from an American combat helicopter in Iraq in July 2007.

British justice will have to determine whether the extradition request submitted to it meets a certain number of legal criteria, and in particular whether it is not disproportionate or incompatible with human rights.

Julian Assange is scheduled to appear from Monday morning and for the whole week before the Woolwich Crown Court, near Belmarsh Prison, south-east London.

The hearing will then be adjourned to resume on May 18 for three weeks. The decision may be appealed.

Julian Assange has been imprisoned in this high security prison since his resounding arrest last April in the Embassy of Ecuador.

He had taken refuge there almost seven years earlier, when he feared being extradited to the United States or Sweden, where he was the subject of rape charges. Assange has always denied the charges, and the charges were dropped three months ago after multiple twists and turns.

- "Psychological torture" -

In a final procedural hearing last Wednesday, the defense of Julian Assange claimed that President Donald Trump had offered the founder of Wikileaks to pardon him if he exonerated Russia in another case of data leaks, that of internal emails. of the American Democratic Party. The White House immediately denied.

In a document produced in his defense, Julian Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, claimed that the proposal had been made by former Republican MP Dana Rohrabacher "on instruction" from the President.

Dana Rohrabacher meanwhile said he told Assange that if he "gave evidence" to say who was behind the leak, he could "call President Trump to pardon him", however denied having made a any offer on behalf of the President.

Wikileaks had published in 2016, at a key moment in the campaign, thousands of hacked emails from the Democratic Party and the Hillary Clinton team, which contributed to weakening the candidate.

According to Baltasar Garzon, a lawyer who coordinates the defense of Julian Assange, "in August 2017, the Trump administration tried to pressure Julian Assange to say things that would be favorable to the" president ".

"When Assange refused, he was charged and an extradition request was issued, as well as an international arrest warrant," said the former Spanish investigating judge at a press conference last Thursday. in Paris.

Numerous voices have been raised to denounce the treatment inflicted on Julian Assange, the UN rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer estimating in May that he presented "all the typical symptoms of a prolonged exposure to psychological torture, an anxiety chronic and intense psychological trauma ". Relatives say his health has recently improved.

Benefiting from numerous supports, among which organizations like Amnesty international or Reporters without borders, which underlines that the founder of Wikileaks "transmitted information of general interest to journalists", Julian Assange wants to ask for political asylum in France.

© 2020 AFP