Julian Assange clenches fist in defiance as Wikileaks founder arrives in court

The Australian saluted with his fist as he arrived at Southwark Crown Court in the back of a prison van to be sentenced this morning. The Australian was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this month after being arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy. Officials allowed police to enter the building after becoming increasingly frustrated at his behaviour.

Assange was accused of sexual offences in Sweden in 2010, and after exhausting his legal options against an extradition order, went to the Ecuadorian Embassy on June 19 2012.

A warrant for his arrest was issued 10 days later.

At the hearing on April 11 District Judge Michael Snow remanded Assange in custody and branded him a “narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests”.

The judge said: “This is a case which merits the maximum sentence, which is 12 months in the Crown Court.”

A bearded Assange was dragged out of the Kensington embassy by five police officers on April 11, with the Wikileaks founder shouting and gesticulating as he was loaded into a police van.

He shouted “you must resist” as he was dragged out of the embassy.

In a public broadcast, Ecuador President Lenin Moreno blasted Assange for being “discourteous and aggressive” while staying in the embassy in Kensington, west London.

He said: “Ecuador is a generous country and a nation with open arms.

“Ours is a government respectful of the principles of international law, and of the institution of the right of asylum.

“Getting or withdrawing asylum is a sovereign right of the Ecuadorian state, according to international law.

“Today, I announce that the discourteous and aggressive behaviour of Mr. Julian Assange, the hostile and threatening declarations of its allied organisation, against Ecuador, and especially the transgression of international treaties, have led the situation to a point where the asylum of Mr Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable.”

Mr Moreno insists for six years and 10 months “the Ecuadorian people have protected the human rights of Mr Assange” and “fulfilled its obligations in the framework of international law”.

He added: “On the other hand, Mr Assange violated repeatedly, clear cut provisions of the conventions on diplomatic asylum of Havana and Caracas; despite the fact that he was requested on several occasions to respect and abide by these rules.”

source: express.co.uk