London, February 09: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has complained about process abuse as British magistrates are about to make their final deliberations in the case to determine whether he should be extradited to Sweden.
On Tuesday, judges in Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court in southeast London wrapped up a second day of a court hearing on Sweden’s request to extradite Assange, who is being sought in the Scandinavian country on criminal charges based on accusations of rape and molestation leveled against him by two women last year, AFP reported.
The judges are set to deliver their verdict on the extradition of the 39-year-old Australian on the third day of the court hearing on Wednesday morning.
In their efforts to dissuade the judges from issuing the extradition ruling, Assange’s lawyers have turned the spotlight on alleged flaws in the Swedish prosecutors’ case, saying they are deeply concerned that, if extradited to Sweden, their client would not receive a fair trial or be tried “behind closed doors.”
Assange’s sympathizers and financial supporters have argued that like US Private Bradley Manning, who is charged with giving US military secrets to WikiLeaks, the founder of the website would end up in a prison in the United States, where he might face the death penalty for the release of classified US documents.
Meanwhile, Assange himself chastised the Swedish prosecutor in charge of his case for her refusal to appear at the court hearing.
“What we’ve seen is process abuse after process abuse being revealed for hours and hours,” Assange said, adding, “What we have not seen however is the chief prosecutor… she has refused to come to the proceedings.”
He once again spiritedly denied the allegations of rape and molestation, saying his life had been put “in a black box with the word rape written on it.”
“That box is now, thanks to an open court process, being opened,” he stated.
In the latest development, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt denounced as “untrue” the recent statement by Assange’s lawyer Geoffrey Robertson, who harshly criticized the Swedish judiciary system and its handling of rape cases.
“It is unfortunate. We have an independent judiciary,” Reinfeldt told reporters in Stockholm.
Assange was arrested in London in December after Sweden issued a warrant on rape and molestation charges.
He was then granted a bail of 240,000 pounds (about 283,000 euros) in cash and sureties by a British judge, who also ordered strict bail conditions, including wearing an electronic tag, reporting to police every day, and observing a curfew.
——Agencies