1
J
UDICIARY OF
E
NGLAND AND
W
ALES
District Judge
(Magistrates’ Court)
Vanessa Baraitser
In the Westminster Magistrates’ Court
Between: THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Requesting State -v- JULIAN PAUL ASSANGE Requested Person INDEX
Page A.
Introduction 2 a.
The Request 2 b.
Procedural History (US) 3 c.
Procedural History (UK) 4 B.
The Conduct 5 a.
Second Superseding Indictment 5 b.
Alleged Conduct 9 c.
The Evidence 15 C.
Issues Raised 15 D.
The US-UK Treaty 16 E.
Initial Stages of the Extradition Hearing 25 a.
Section 78(2) 25 b.
Section 78(4) 26 I.
Section 78(4)(a) 26 II.
Section 78(4)(b) 26 i.
Section 137(3)(a): The Conduct 27 ii.
Section 137(3)(b): Dual Criminality 27
2 The first strand (count 2) 33 The second strand (counts 3-14,1,18) and Article 10 34 The third strand (counts 15-17, 1) and Article 10 43 The right to truth/ Necessity 50 iii.
Section 137(3)(c): maximum sentence requirement 53 F.
Bars to Extradition 53 a.
Section 81 (Extraneous Considerations) 53 I.
Section 81(a) 55 II.
Section 81(b) 69 b.
Section 82 (Passage of Time) 71 G.
Human Rights 76 a.
Article 6 84 b.
Article 7 82 c.
Article 10 88 H.
Health
–
Section 91 92 a.
Prison Conditions 93 I.
Pre-Trial 93 II.
Post-Trial 98 b.
Psychiatric Evidence 101 I.
The defence medical evidence 101 II.
The US medical evidence 105 III.
Findings on the medical evidence 108 c.
The Turner Criteria 111 I.
A substantial risk 112 II.
The capacity to resist the impulse to suicide 114 III.
The risk he will succeed whatever steps are taken 115 I.
Abuse of Process 120 a.
Zagrewski Abuse 121 b.
The new allegations (excising the Request) 132 J.
Orders 134
A.
INTRODUCTION
The Request
3 1.
This is a request made by the Government of the
United States of America (“the
US
”
) for the extradition of Julian Paul Assange. The US is represented by James Lewis QC, Claire Dobbin and Joel Smith. Mr. Assange is represented by Edward Fitzgerald QC, Mark Summers QC, Ben Cooper QC and Florence Iveson. 2.
The United States of A
merica (“the US
A
”)
is a Category 2 territory for the purposes of the
Extradition Act 2003 (“the
EA
2003”).
The request is therefore governed by the provisions of Part 2 of the EA 2003, the Extradition Act 2003 (Commencement and Savings) Order 2003 and the Extradition Act 2003 (Designation of Part 2 Territories) Order 2003. 3.
On 29 July 2020 the Secretary of State issued a certificate under s.70(8) of the EA 2003 certifying that the request for extradition is valid and that it has been made in the approved way.
Procedural History (US)
4.
On 21 December 2017, a federal magistrate judge, in the Commonwealth of Virginia, issued a criminal complaint against Mr. Assange, charging him with conspiracy contrary to Title 18 of the US Code
(the “
U.S.C.
”)
, section 371. The offence alleged to be the object of the conspiracy was computer intrusion (Title 18 U.S.C. Section 1030). 5.
On 6 March 2018, a federal grand jury returned an indictment against Mr. Assange charging him with conspiracy (contrary to Title 18, U.S.C. section 371) to commit unlawful computer intrusion (contrary to section 1030(a)(1) and (2)). The US submitted via diplomatic channels a provisional arrest request in relation to this charge. 6.
On 23 May 2019, a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment containing 18 counts alleging further offences related to the obtaining, receiving and disclosure of
“National Defense Information” (contrary to the provisions of Title 18,
U.S.C. sections 793(g), 793(b), 793 (c), 793 (d) and 793 (e)). On the same date, a warrant was issued by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, for the arrest of Mr. Assange for the offences specified in the superseding warrant. On 6 June 2019 the US submitted via diplomatic channels a request for Mr. Assange
’s
extradition based on the charges in