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from the enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend dept.
Revealed: Russia's secret plan to help Julian Assange escape from UK
Russian diplomats held secret talks in London last year with people close to Julian Assange to assess whether they could help him flee the UK, the Guardian has learned.
A tentative plan was devised that would have seen the WikiLeaks founder smuggled out of Ecuador's London embassy in a diplomatic vehicle and transported to another country.
One ultimate destination, multiple sources have said, was Russia, where Assange would not be at risk of extradition to the US. The plan was abandoned after it was deemed too risky.
The operation to extract Assange was provisionally scheduled for Christmas Eve in 2017, one source claimed, and was linked to an unsuccessful attempt by Ecuador to give Assange formal diplomatic status.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by khallow on Sunday September 23 2018, @09:58AM (3 children)
What laws did he break?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @10:34AM
None, but once in the US he will be either charged with as many offenses as necessary to achieve a death penalty and allowed to plea bargain (thus admitting his guilt), to show leniency, or he will go to gitmo and that will be the end of it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 23 2018, @04:38PM (1 child)
Charges for receiving and releasing classified US documents, DNC emails, etc. Those may be "after the fact" accessory charges, but they are violations of US laws nonetheless. I'd bet good money on a sealed indictment just waiting for Assange to end up in a extradition-friendly situation. Any statute of limitations were probably reset when the DNC emails were released (the US government views this as an ongoing criminal enterprise/conspiracy).
Whether he could be convicted is another matter, but the US is ready when Assange becomes nabbable. Plus, if the US can't convict him I'm sure there are other US allies who may want a shot at him for releasing their classified documents.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday September 24 2018, @01:27PM
The earlier poster played this straw man game where they insinuated that breaking the law was an indication of poor character without considering whether the laws in question, assuming they actually exist, are in good faith. I'm still not convinced that actions of Assange and Wikileaks are criminal, particularly since the US hasn't publicly stated such (particularly, hasn't submitted said extradition request publicly by now).
If he's never brought to trial, then it doesn't matter.