Julian Assange's 10th year in prison.

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Whataboutism aside, do you really think Assange would get a fair trial here?
Considering that after all this time, most people don't even remember him and what he did, there's at least a 50-50 chance of it.
 

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Whataboutism
Also, if you're gonna accuse me of Soviet-style propagandizing, I'd prefer you just called me a commie and be done with it.
 

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Whataboutism aside, do you really think Assange would get a fair trial here?
Celebrities with money or good pro-bono attorneys tend to do very well in court.
 

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Considering that after all this time, most people don't even remember him and what he did, there's at least a 50-50 chance of it.
Celebrities with money or good pro-bono attorneys tend to do very well in court.
Considering the media blackout on the topic, it's no wonder few people remember. But the media hasn't been kind to him because they're slanted. He's not a sympathetic figure, and he's been tarred with the Russia brush, so they ignore him. Even when it puts their own national security reporters at risk. No, the media will carry the government's water if he ever comes to a trial here. That is why I don't expect he'd get a fair trial and he certainly would be treated like an animal or Jeffrey Epstein. Same goes for Snowden.
 
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Innula Zenovka

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Whataboutism aside, do you really think Assange would get a fair trial here?
It's a reasonable question, and one about which I have some concerns, certainly (I have the same concerns about Ghislaine Maxwell), and one which Judge Baraitser considers, along with the evidence she heard from both sides, from p 76 and following in her judgment:


She concludes, on p 80, after reviewing the evidence about US procedures in detail, that the US Bill of Rights' Sixth Amendment protections are at least as robust as those offered by Article 6 of the ECHR, and that

42. None of the issues raised by the defence either individually or cumulatively would result
in contravention of Article 6. I have no reason to doubt that the usual constitutional and
procedural protections will be applied to ensure that Mr. Assange receives a fair trial.
I don't say she's right, but if you want a detailed consideration of her conclusions and the evidence that led her there, you'll find them in the judgment and the annex to it summarising the evidence she heard.

Assange's problem here, I think, is that the existence of an extradition treaty means that each party trusts the other side's courts in general to offer, in general, as fair and impartial a trial as would their own, and it's very hard to go behind that without good evidence.

While you might argue that the UK-US extradition agreement is very one-sided and unfair to defendants wanted for trial in the US, and many would agree with you, the existence of the agreement means Assange has to demonstrate that it's unlikely he'd get a fair trial because of the particular circumstances of the case, not that US trials are unfair in general.
 

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It's a reasonable question, and one about which I have some concerns, certainly (I have the same concerns about Ghislaine Maxwell), and one which Judge Baraitser considers, along with the evidence she heard from both sides, from p 76 and following in her judgment:


She concludes, on p 80, after reviewing the evidence about US procedures in detail, that the US Bill of Rights' Sixth Amendment protections are at least as robust as those offered by Article 6 of the ECHR, and that



I don't say she's right, but if you want a detailed consideration of her conclusions and the evidence that led her there, you'll find them in the judgment and the annex to it summarising the evidence she heard.

Assange's problem here, I think, is that the existence of an extradition treaty means that each party trusts the other side's courts in general to offer, in general, as fair and impartial a trial as would their own, and it's very hard to go behind that without good evidence.

While you might argue that the UK-US extradition agreement is very one-sided and unfair to defendants wanted for trial in the US, and many would agree with you, the existence of the agreement means Assange has to demonstrate that it's unlikely he'd get a fair trial because of the particular circumstances of the case, not that US trials are unfair in general.
We have a long history of people not getting fair trials.
 

Innula Zenovka

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We have a long history of people not getting fair trials.
Should you ever be interested in what she had to say about that objection to his extradition, you can find it in the judgment I linked to.

The problem is that, when you have an extradition agreement, then the default assumption is that you trust the other country's legal system in general to deliver a fair trial, so the case has to be made that, nevertheless, this particular defendant may not get a fair trial.

Doubtless Assange will appeal that part of the judgment, assuming that the US continue with the case, but if he does, his lawyers will need to do more than simply saying the US has a long history of people not getting fair trials, so Assange won't get one because people don't. The Court of Appeal will need persuading Assange won't get one in this particular case.
 
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Innula Zenovka

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Evernote link because why not
 
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Arkady Arkright

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Evernote link because why not
And if there's a change of president back to MAGA-man ? I'd trust that promise about as far as I'd trust one of Boris' manifesto commitments...