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Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

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Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#361

Post by kybernetikos »

tetris11 wrote: post #327
jillesvangurp wrote: post #310

Good, this was getting majorly embarrassing for all countries still involved with this legal mess. The man dying in prison stuck in legal limbo without any conviction whatsoever (innocent until proven guilty and all that) would have been a PR disaster for the UK. And of course there's also the issue that the UK is very likely to get a new government that would have likely been leaning to just letting the man go in an…

> At least the current Labour leader strikes me as a decent man with some actual principles and backbone and this would fundamentally be a decent thing to do. (massive sidetrack, but I can't let this sentence go unpunished) The current labour leader is the lamest duck in a group of wet blankets. His policies revolve around not being as corrupt as the Tories whilst doing virtually nothing else to better his constituen…

He's also got a background as a human rights lawyer. He probably has a lot of personal interest in cases like this.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#362

Post by throwawaythekey »

threeseed wrote: post #150
kyleyeats wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Julian's not a whistleblower, he's a journalist. Whistleblowers are people within the organization.

He's also not a journalist by traditional definitions i.e. no formal training, no accreditation, no redaction to protect innocent parties, no protection of sources. He's more akin to an activist.

Journalists consider Julian to be a journalist.

> WikiLeaks wins top Australian journalism prize... The Walkley Award is one of a number of journalism prizes won by WikiLeaks in recent years, including Amnesty International’s UK Media Award and the acclaimed Martha Gellhorn Prize. The latter award is given to journalists who reveal “an unpalatable truth that exposes establishment propaganda.” These prizes undermine the Obama administration’s claims that Assange is not a journalist and that the publication of thousands of secret US diplomatic and military cables is illegal.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/11/assa-n30.html

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#363

Post by belter »

Capricorn2481 wrote: post #356
belter wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"How Swedish authorities falsified the rape complaint against Julian Assange" - https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000114363431/wie-die-schwe...

[flagged]

[flagged]

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#364

Post by 317070 »

tetris11 wrote: post #327
jillesvangurp wrote: post #310

Good, this was getting majorly embarrassing for all countries still involved with this legal mess. The man dying in prison stuck in legal limbo without any conviction whatsoever (innocent until proven guilty and all that) would have been a PR disaster for the UK. And of course there's also the issue that the UK is very likely to get a new government that would have likely been leaning to just letting the man go in an…

> At least the current Labour leader strikes me as a decent man with some actual principles and backbone and this would fundamentally be a decent thing to do. (massive sidetrack, but I can't let this sentence go unpunished) The current labour leader is the lamest duck in a group of wet blankets. His policies revolve around not being as corrupt as the Tories whilst doing virtually nothing else to better his constituen…

FWIW, I am one of his constituents in Camden, and he helped us out tremendously in a pickle with Home Office when the latest war in Ukraine broke out. The issue went from 6 months in limbo to being resolved within a week.

I am not commenting on the backbone, but he is definitely there for his constituents.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#365

Post by damsalor »

dav43 wrote: post #359

The lack of support and lack of agitation by the Australian Government on both sides of parliament is a testament to how bad Australian politics is. He was an Australia citizen left out to dry. Disgraceful.

Aus can hardly antagonize us/uk

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#366

Post by yzydserd »

AlexCoventry wrote: post #329

Is there any risk that he could face further charges in Australia?

The Australian government brokered the deal [0] after their parliament voted for him to be freed [1]

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/apr/10/biden-assange-...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/14/austr...

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#367

Post by vintermann »

mike_d wrote: post #328
throwup238 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL but the judge can't both reject the plea deal and sentence him, since rejecting the plea deal invalidates the guilty plea. Rejecting it and remanding him to custody would cause a diplomatic incident. He's not out of the woods yet by any means, but if they reached a deal his lawyers are confident in, I wouldn't be worried about the judge. They are supposed to deffer to international law if US is a party to the t…

> Rejecting it and remanding him to custody would cause a diplomatic incident. Why would it be a diplomatic incident? When you are a fugitive from justice taking a plea deal is always a gamble because you have to show up in court. Should the judge reject your deal, you are handed over to US Marshals pending a new court date. Edit: downvote all you want, it doesn't change facts. There is a separation of powers between…

This case made a mockery out of the idea of separation of powers, which you'd know if you'd followed it at all. The case was political from day 1, and even if there is no last-moment disgrace from the US (I don't think there will be), it still will be 100% political.

They probably just realized they shouldn't dig the embarrassment hole any deeper, and think that an extorted confession is the most face-saving they're going to get.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#368

Post by pyrale »

mike_d wrote: post #328
throwup238 wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IANAL but the judge can't both reject the plea deal and sentence him, since rejecting the plea deal invalidates the guilty plea. Rejecting it and remanding him to custody would cause a diplomatic incident. He's not out of the woods yet by any means, but if they reached a deal his lawyers are confident in, I wouldn't be worried about the judge. They are supposed to deffer to international law if US is a party to the t…

> Rejecting it and remanding him to custody would cause a diplomatic incident. Why would it be a diplomatic incident? When you are a fugitive from justice taking a plea deal is always a gamble because you have to show up in court. Should the judge reject your deal, you are handed over to US Marshals pending a new court date. Edit: downvote all you want, it doesn't change facts. There is a separation of powers between…

Because the UK was reluctant to give extradition based on the conditions offered by the US. Part of the reason the US is offering a plea deal is that it bypasses the need for extradition. Australia also asked the US to drop the case.

So offering a deal only to have the UK agree to release Assange and lure him to US territory would definitely be a diplomatic issue, possibly jeopardizing future extraditions from the UK, for instance.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#369

Post by locallost »

davedx wrote: post #352
tetris11 wrote: post #327

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> At least the current Labour leader strikes me as a decent man with some actual principles and backbone and this would fundamentally be a decent thing to do. (massive sidetrack, but I can't let this sentence go unpunished) The current labour leader is the lamest duck in a group of wet blankets. His policies revolve around not being as corrupt as the Tories whilst doing virtually nothing else to better his constituen…

Labour just said they’ll enforce the warrant for Netanyahu’s arrest. You find that lacking backbone?

Starmer has absolutely no opinions on anything other than not rattling the cage of conservative voters. This makes him broadly acceptable, but long term nobody is truly supporting him.

Re: Julian Assange has reached a plea deal with the U.S., allowing him to go free

#370

Post by qingcharles »

throwup238 wrote: post #277
RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #265

> Court documents revealing Assange's plea deal were filed Monday evening in U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean. Assange was expected to appear in that court and to be sentenced to 62 months, with credit for time served in British prison, meaning he would be free to return to Australia, where he was born. I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. He is appearing in…

IANAL but the judge can't both reject the plea deal and sentence him, since rejecting the plea deal invalidates the guilty plea. Rejecting it and remanding him to custody would cause a diplomatic incident. He's not out of the woods yet by any means, but if they reached a deal his lawyers are confident in, I wouldn't be worried about the judge. They are supposed to deffer to international law if US is a party to the t…

The judge can't sentence him, but if the judge refuses the plea deal he can order him to be taken into immediate pre-trial detention and schedule a bail hearing in the near future; and then refuse bail due to him being a flight risk (previously ran from authorities).

He would then spend potentially several more years in jail preparing for trial, obtaining discovery, going through discovery, filing pretrial motions, subpoenaing witnesses, etc etc.

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