After 1 hour and 45 minutes, the hearing is over. Judge orders Assange be extradited in Sweden. Assange has 7 days to appeal. For now, he will remain on bail. Lawyer Mark Stephens says they will appeal.
Julian Assange has lost the case at the extradition hearing. Full ruling here in (PDF). While this writer expected considerable difficulty for Assange’s case on count 4, Chief Magistrate Howard Riddle found all four counts to be extraditable. More on that and his findings for another day.
An important first point is that this extradition finding should not be misinterpreted as some species of proven guilt. Julian Assange is still presumed innocent until proven guilty by a proper trial process. The extradition process and appeals to follow in the UK are not that trial process.
Speaking to reporters outside the court in London, Assange said he would appeal the ruling and criticized the European arrest warrant system. He described the ruling as a “rubber stamping process that comes as no surprise but is none the less wrong”.
The European Arrest Warrant system is flawed and has again been used by a signatory nation to the Framework Decision 2001 (PDF) without having to prove the strength of the prosecution case.
CLICK HERE FOR JULIAN ASSANGE LIVE CHAT Q & A ON AFTENBLADET AFTER EXTRADITION HEARING
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