Julian Assange, the creator of WikiLeaks, who is in Belmarsh prison in London for violating bail conditions, is being bullied there while being transported to court. They were described by his common-law wife Stella Maurice on Twitter.
According to Maurice, Assange is woken up at five in the morning, then handcuffed and subjected to a full X-ray scan, for which he has to strip naked. Then he was taken to court for an hour and a half in a cramped van that resembles a coffin, the journalist's wife said. It is noted that during the meetings the Australian is kept in a “glass aquarium” in the far corner of the hall, which makes it difficult to communicate with lawyers.
Earlier, Assange was unable to attend the extradition hearing in the United States due to illness. The meeting was held via video link due to quarantine measures, but Assange's doctors recommended that he not appear in public, even in this mode.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed 17 charges against Assange in May 2019, later adding another. In case of extradition to the United States, which is currently being held, the founder of WikiLeaks faces up to 175 years in prison.
In 2012, fearing extradition to Sweden due to rape charges (the case was dropped in 2019), Assange applied for asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. There he was continuously for almost seven years. In April 2019, he was arrested by the British police.
