Judge tells Assange to appear at hearing

A JUDGE has ordered that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange must appear at his next court hearing unless there is medical evidence to explain why he cannot.

District judge Vanessa Baraitser made the ruling after being told that Assange was said to be too ill to attend Westminster Magistrates’ Court yesterday for the latest administrative hearing in his extradition case.

Assange, 48, is wanted in the US to face 17 charges under the Espionage Act and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion after the publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010 and 2011.

He is currently being held in London’s maximum-security Belmarsh prison while the court system tries to reschedule his extradition hearing, which was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Assange’s barrister Mark Summers QC told the court his client did not appear by video link because he was unwell.

The judge told the court that the final hearing is likely to be held at the Old Bailey in September.

She said this has not been confirmed but it “is almost certainly to be held at the Central Criminal Court”.

In adjourning the case to July 27 at 10am, the judge said Assange must appear via video link “unless there is medical evidence” to explain his non-attendance.

His full extradition hearing is set to take place on September 7, having originally been scheduled for May 18.

In June it was reported that a coalition of Australian MPs, human rights advocates and journalists have called on their country’s government to intervene in the case of Assange, who was said to be too ill to attend a June 1 court hearing of his extradition case. He was unable to attend via video link because of ill-health and advice from his doctors, according to his partner Stella Moris.