MOSCOW, July 4. /TASS/. Official spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, after one of the witnesses admitted the accusation of perjury in the case against the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, drew attention to the fact that the leaders of the EU or NATO countries did not touch on the fate of the journalist at any of the summits.
In an interview with Stundin, Sigurdur Ingi Thordarson, a key witness in the US Department of Justice case against Julian Assange, admitted that he fabricated parts of his testimony.
"And after all, not a single EU or NATO summit has even touched on the fate of Assange," she wrote in her Telegram channel. Zakharova recalled that the investigative journalist is now in a UK prison. "The term of his imprisonment, according to UK law, has long expired. But who cares about it in the West when there are so many interesting things east of liberalism," she said.
According to Zakharova, this story is a bad look for Western liberal values. In addition, the methods, she noted, are not entirely legal. "We are talking about outright pressure, blackmail, and judicial forgery. But for the American repressive power machine, the methods are justified by the goals," she said.
In the United States, 18 criminal charges have been brought against Assange, on which he faces up to 175 years in prison. He is charged with crimes related to a major case of disclosing classified information. Since April 2019, the founder of WikiLeaks has been in a UK prison awaiting a final decision on his extradition to the United States.
On January 4, a court in London ruled that his extradition to the US authorities would be unlawful, since Assange, who suffers from autism and clinical depression, is ready to commit suicide and will carry out his plan if he ends up in a US prison. The judge's conclusions were based on evaluations by psychologists and experts. At the same time, the judge recognized the charges against Assange in the United States as completely legitimate and well-grounded. At the moment, the American prosecutor's office is trying to challenge the decision to refuse extradition, and Assange, who was not allowed by the court to leave prison on bail, remains in custody.