It May be Impossible for Assange to Win in Court

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, may be in trouble. Since 2012, he has been holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy. The government of Ecuador has granted him asylum, but recent possible charges from the United States could end his safety. An indictment was possibly filed against Assange, and it was accidentally leaked in an unsealed case. On Tuesday, a U.S. district court judge is expected to unseal the documents and reveal whether or not charges are actually being filed. They have stated that they currently cannot confirm nor deny whether they are bringing charges against Assange.

If he is being charged in the district that the leaked court documents claimed, though, he may be in trouble. This district is the Eastern District of Virginia.

CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou indicated that the Eastern District of Virginia is a no-man’s land for whistleblowers.

Will @rcfp and other press be successful in unsealing Assange changes on Tuesday? CIA whistleblower @JohnKiriakou: national security Judge Brinkema “reserves all [such] cases for herself. She made it literally impossible to mount a defence” https://t.co/GvAx1iGHVb

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 25, 2018

He stated that the reason that this would be done in the Eastern District is that it is the “Espionage Court.” No national security defendant has ever won a case there.

National security Judge Brinkema of the Eastern District was the judge in the Snowden case and in Kiriakou’s case. It is impossible to win as a defendant because “the deck is stacked,” as Kiriakou puts it.

This occurs because every time the defense requests that information be declassified (so that they can defend themselves), the judge denies the motion.

This comes as no surprise to those most cynical about the political process and the state’s tendency to bend the rules in its own favor.

The fate of Assange is now quite uncertain.