Europe

Europe

Assange takes extradition battle to Britainâ€™s top court

02 February 2012 04:19 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange took his extradition fight to Britainâ€™s Supreme Court on Wednesday, arguing that sending him to Sweden to face rape allegations would breach legal principles dating back 1,500 years, APA reports quoting AFP.

The 40-year-old Australian is banking his last throw of the dice within the British legal system on just one technical point -- that the Swedish prosecutor who ordered his arrest in December 2010 was not a proper judicial authority.

Assangeâ€™s lawyers brought in Latin references and discussed the justice systems of a host of European countries including France, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands as they tried to convince the panel of seven judges.

But his chief lawyer Dinah Rose told the court: "This appeal involves a single issue of law which can be very simply stated. The question is whether a Swedish prosecutor has judicial authority for the purposes of the extradition act."

The court in London is hearing Assangeâ€™s appeal over two days after deciding that it raised a point of wider public interest. They are expected to reserve judgment and publish it in several weeks time.

Dozens of supporters were in court to see the white-haired former hacker, who has become a cause celebre since his anti-secrecy website enraged Washington by leaking thousands of secret US documents.

Rose told the court she was not raising a "parochial" legal issue but a "pillar of natural justice" about the role of a judge, dating from the legal code set down by the Byzantine emperor Justinian 1,500 years ago.

There was no guarantee that a prosecutor would be as "independent and impartial" as a judge, Rose said, adding that allowing a prosecutor to issue warrants was "a serious interference with individual liberty".

But the lawyer for the Swedish authorities, Clare Montgomery, urged the judges to reject Assangeâ€™s appeal.

She said that in the fast-track European Arrest Warrant system under which Sweden demanded Assangeâ€™s extradition, the term "judicial authority" had a wider meaning which included officials who were not necessarily judges.

Assange did not speak during the hearing.

He was flanked by his lawyers, including high-profile defence attorney Gareth Peirce, while behind him was supporter Vaughan Smith, at whose mansion in eastern England Assange has spent most of the last year under virtual house arrest.

If the court rejects his appeal, Assange will have exhausted all his options in Britain but he could still make a last-ditch appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), prosecutors have said.

But if Assange wins his case it could call into question the whole European Arrest Warrant system.

Assange denies the rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women in Sweden, and insists the sex was consensual. He has also claimed that the allegations against him are politically motivated.

Assange has said he fears he will eventually be handed over to the United States, where Bradley Manning, a US soldier accused of handing documents to WikiLeaks, faces a court-martial.

While the legal battle has dragged on, Assangeâ€™s celebrity status has grown -- he is to host his own TV show and will make an appearance as himself later this month on the 500th episode of the US cartoon show Simpsons.

So far Russiaâ€™s state-run RT is the only channel to confirm it will broadcast the chat show.

Assangeâ€™s extradition to Sweden was initially approved by a lower court in February 2011. An appeal to the High Court was rejected in November, but he subsequently won permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.