The two crucial hearings begin this morning at the High Court in London, today and tomorrow, to decide the fate of the final appeal of the defense of Julian Assange, Australian journalist and co-founder of WikiLeaks, against his highly contested extradition proceedings from the United Kingdom in USA.

If the appeal is not accepted, the only option would be the European Court of Human Rights. Assange is accused of having published, since 2010, 700 thousand confidential documents on the military and diplomatic activities of the United States, where he risks a sentence of up to 175 years in prison.

For his wife Stella Assange, failure to accept the appeal would be like a death sentence: "The case – she reiterated – is destined to establish whether he will live or die."

Assange has been held in Belmarsh maximum security prison in London since 2019. A detention that has greatly weakened him physically and psychologically, so much so that he did not appear in court today because he is not well.

"He doesn't feel well today, he's not present," said lawyer Edward Fitzgerald, without providing further details, at the beginning of the hearing that was crucial for the journalist's future. Many demonstrators gathered for hours in front of the High Court headquarters to "support Julian" at this moment.

(Unioneonline/L)