London: The extradition hearing for Julian Assange has been plagued by technical difficulties, throwing proceedings into further delay because of coronavirus.
Assange is fighting the US Department of Justice's request for him to be extradited to the US to face 18 charges of violating the Espionage Act. The charges relate to the publication of more than half a million US defence and diplomatic documents on the WikiLeaks website.
The charges carry a maximum 175 years jail term.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a prison van travelling to Westminster Magistrates Court in London on December 20, 2019.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a prison van travelling to Westminster Magistrates Court in London on December 20,
Court officials in London spent more than an hour trying to establish a video link to the United States to hear the evidence of Eric Lewis, a US attorney who opposes Assange's extradition.
Editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, Kristinn Hrafnsson (right) shows his phone to Julian Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson (center) as Assange's partner Stella Morris looks on outside the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey in London on Tuesday.
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"No publisher of information has ever been successfully prosecuted for publishing national security information ever," Lewis said.
He told the court that if convicted, the 49-year-old would likely spend the rest of his life in jail.
"Under the best-case scenario we are looking at a sentence somewhere between, 20 years, if everything goes brilliantly to 175 years," he said.
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