Julian Assange, the co-founder of Wikileaks, has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.
Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy last month after his strange and offensive behavior there caused the embassy to withdraw his asylum status. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
He lived at the embassy for seven years but had become such a nuisance that officials wanted him gone, accusing him of everything from meddling in national politics to smearing fecal matter on the walls of the embassy. He was then found guilty of breaching the Bail Act.
He initially took refuge in the London embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden for sexual assault charges, which he has denied.
In a letter to the court, Assange wrote that he was “struggling with difficult circumstances,” and he apologized to all those who feel as though he disrespected them.
“I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done,” he said, through his attorney.
The Judge, however, seemed unimpressed by his written apology. Judge Deborah Taylor chastised Assange by telling him in open court, “It is essential to the rule of law that nobody is above or beyond the reach of the law,” Taylor said. “Orders of the court are to be obeyed.”
According to ABC News, The Wikileaks co-founder’s biggest fear is being extradited to the US to face charges related to all of his Wikileaks activity. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said after the sentencing that the extradition battle with the U.S. is now the “big fight” facing Assange.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“It will be a question of life and death for Mr. Assange,” he said.
The judge continued to offer him no sympathy as she gave the 47-year-old hacker a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody. She also pointed out that he had not surrendered “willingly” and was only facing the court because the government of Ecuador withdrew its protection last month.
