A British court will decide from today, February 20, 2024, whether Julian Assange will be extradited to the US.

Julian Assangewill present what could be his before the High Court of London today last legal resort in the United Kingdom against his extradition to the United States, which demands 18 espionage crimes and computer intrusion resulting from the WikiLeaks portal revelations.

At the request of the Australian defense, Judges Victoria Sharp and Adam Johnson will review in hearings today and tomorrow the decision made on June 6, 2023 by a single judge, Jonathan Swift, who denied him permission to appeal the case. country and approved his extradition order.

After listening to representatives of the 52-year-old journalist and activist and the British Public Prosecution Service, which represents the American justice system, the judges were able to give your statement immediately or postpone it.

Two options: new trial in Great Britain or referral to the ECtHR

Faced with a double scenario, Assange is confronted with two possible outcomes: that the two magistrates authorize him to appeal the parts of his case that his defense had not addressed so far – which would lead to a a new test– or, on the other hand, they agree with Swift by banning it, which would activate the delivery mechanism To the US.

In the second case, your lawyers will immediately request urgent precautionary measures from the European Court of Personnel (ECHR) to halt the extradition under Article 39 of its regulations while they appeal to the European Court, according to sources close to the computer programmer.

Last Wednesday, Australia’s parliament demanded that the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom release the programmer so he can return to his country of origin, in a resolution that included the voice of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese among its defenders. .

However, the British government has raised its profile in recent years and, apart from approving the extradition, has left Assange’s future in the hands of the courts, in an apparent attempt to avoid political controversy or compromise relations with the United States to cast doubt. at risk.

Assange is in preventive prison at the Belmarsh maximum security prison in London, as he was held at the request of the United States following his April 11, 2019, deportation from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, which withdrew his asylum.

The journalist had sought refuge there in 2012, after his first arrest in the British capital in 2010 at the request of Sweden, in a case that has now been archived.

The United States is pursuing him because of classified information – provided by his US military contact Chelsea Manning, who is currently at large – published in 2010 and 2011 by WikiLeaks, which showed that Violations of American human rights in the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.