More than 13 years ago, Australian journalist Julian Assange founded the WikiLeaks project, a platform for publishing classified and secret information obtained as a result of leaks or from anonymous sources. The appearance of many incriminating documents and files provoked discontent from the United States - the US authorities began to prosecute Assange, charging him with espionage. Now he is in the UK, where the court must decide on his extradition overseas. If extradited to Americans, Assange could face up to 175 years in prison.

WikiLeaks Start

The WikiLeaks project was launched by Julian Assange in 2006. The main server was located in Sweden, known for its loyalty to journalists.

The first material published on the portal was the decision of the Islamic Court of Somalia on the execution of government officials. The site warned that the information may be false. In subsequent years, Assange and his team published thousands of such documents.

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But the real WikiLeaks portal thundered in 2010, when it posted on the network a video of the shooting from an American military helicopter of unarmed people in Iraq.

In that attack, 12 to 18 people died, including two Reuters reporters, and two children were seriously injured.

“These military men acted with such indifference as if they were playing some kind of computer game. They simply cut off someone’s lives in cold blood, ”recalls former WikiLeaks lawyer Renata Avila.

“Look at these dead bastards!”

- Cool.

(Interpretation of US military negotiations after the shooting of civilians in Iraq.)

The publication of documents and videos provoked a high-profile international scandal. The site WikiLeaks also provided information about the understatement of the United States and its allies of data on civilian casualties, cruel torture of prisoners of war and other crimes. However, none of the US military was charged. But Assange himself was taken seriously.

Journalist. Hacker. Whistle-blower. Rapist?


In August 2010, an arrest warrant was issued in Sweden for the founder of WikiLeaks. According to media reports, he was accused of sexual harassment and rape of two women. The journalist published a letter refuting these allegations in a Stockholm newspaper. In his appeal, Assange claimed that his persecution was provoked by the publication of materials on WikiLeaks. The next day, the charges were dropped. But a few days later the case was reopened.

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“All this was conceived for the sole purpose: so that the word“ rape ”would sound next to the name of Julian Assange,” says journalist Mary Costakidis.

The founder of WikiLeaks himself suspected that the true reason was deeper: in the case of a direct request from the United States, Sweden could extradite him overseas, and there many antagonists awaited a meeting with the journalist, endowed with enormous power. Fearing such a development of events, Assange moved to London. After Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest and an international wanted list, he voluntarily appeared at the police station and was arrested, but was later released on bail and recognizance not to leave.

In early 2011, a British court decided to extradite the founder of WikiLeaks to Sweden. Appeals to higher authorities did not help.

Embassy Voluntary Imprisonment and Arrest

On June 19, 2012, Julian Assange took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador and asked for political asylum from the leadership of this country. At the same time, representatives of the Swedish police said that the extradition of Assange was necessary exclusively “for interrogation”, but refused to interrogate him at the embassy without giving reasons.

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“I think that if Julian had gone to Sweden at that moment, he would have been extradited to the USA,” says theater director Angela Richter, who directed the play Assassinate Assange. - The press often laughed at him, they said, they say, he is afraid to answer for his tricks in Sweden, he is paranoid. But I think, now we see that the USA is really hunting him. And it was not paranoia at all. "

Assange spent almost seven years at the Embassy of Ecuador. The change of power in the Latin American country led to the fact that the new president, Lenin Moreno, in an effort to demonstrate loyalty to the United States, stripped WikiLeaks founder of citizenship and asylum. Assange was taken into custody by the British police.

He subsequently received 50 weeks in prison "for violating the rules of release on bail." This deadline expired on September 22, 2019, but by a special court decision Assange was denied release "for special reasons." A number of human rights organizations and UN special rapporteur Niels Meltzer have repeatedly stated that Julian Assange is systematically subjected to psychological torture in a British prison.

On November 19, 2019, Sweden closed a criminal case against the founder of WikiLeaks without formal charges. US authorities continue to seek his extradition.

No more rules

America has charged Assange with a number of charges, including espionage. If extradited to the United States, he faces up to 175 years in prison.

“If Julian Assange is sent to prison for his publications, precisely for the publications he made ... So, there are no more rules. So this is a game without rules, ”says journalist Johannes Wallström.

“Every journalist in the United States should feel this chilling hand that slides on his back, after such accusations made against the publisher, the journalist. After all, they can be the following, ”says writer Sewlett Dreyfus.

Watch the movie "I'm Julian Assange" on the RTD website.