U.S. Prosecutors Fight to Keep Assange's Charges Sealed, Saying Media Has 'No Legal Right' to Know

U.S. federal prosecutors don't want the criminal charges against Julian Assange unsealed. They say the news media has no legal right to know if the Justice Department is accusing Assange of wrongdoing.

_{AP Photo/Frank Augstein}

This comes as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Reporters Committee for the Freedom of the Press who want access to "any criminal complaint, indictment or other charging documents" against the WikiLeaks founder.

Prosecutors say no one has a right to know if someone has been charged until they get arrested. Prosecutor Gordon Kromber said:

"Any contrary rule would completely undermine the proper functioning of the criminal process at this stage: anyone could petition the Court to require the government to confirm whether the time was right to flee or evade arrest."

The prospectors also say that if there are no publicly available record for changes, then the person hasn't been charged or that those charges are under seal, as Kromberg adeed:

"In either event, the government is not required to publicly acknowledge which of those two possibilities happens to be the case with respect to any individual. The First Amendment does not require the government to confirm or deny the existence of criminal charges in this case."

We already know about the charges against Assange because the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (EDVA) fumbled an attempt to seal someone else's charges by using documents to request a seal on Assange's charges as a template in another case. Assanges name was left by accident, tipping their hands that Assange has already been charged but those charges are currently sealed.

The complaint, supporting affidavit, and arrest warrant, as well as this motion and the proposed order, would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter.

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The reason they wanted the charges sealed was to lull Assange into a false sense of security that the U.S. wasn't interested in kidnapping him for a show-trial on alleged "espionage" violations. But he already knew about the charges in 2011 through WikiLeaks of Stratfor emails. Stratfor's Vice-President for Counterterrorism and Corporate Security, Fred Burton, said in an email from 2011 that a secret Grand Jury had already issued a sealed indictment of Assange, adding that:

"Assange is going to make a nice bride in prison. Screw the terrorist. He'll be eating cat food forever. ... extradition to the US is more and more likely."

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Assange was then arrested in 2012 in the U.K. to be deported to Sweden for charges on sexual assault. Assange says those are false charges being used sucker him into the chains of authority that would then be used to extradite him to the U.S. for more false charges, likely under the "Espionage Act". He knew what was going on at the time, and bolted to the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he's been living in asylum ever since.

But his conditions have gotten worse in recent months, as the government of Ecuador started to impose draconian protocols on him. It's been over 7 months since Assange's access to communication has been cut off in March 2018.

Assange's lawyers filed suit for violations of rights is about his isolation, bans on visits and speech restrictions that fail to live up to international standards. Foreign Minister Jose Valencia is the one bing sued in a Quito court. Valencia is named because he served as the intermediary between Assange and the government of Ecuador. Valencia responded by saying: "The protocol is in line with international standards and Ecuadorean law." The Ecudadorian Judge Karla Martinez ruled in the case that Ecuador was "not violating his fundamental rights".

A hearing for the case has been schedules for Tuesday, where U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema will hear on the motion to unseal the charges. But it's most likely going to be dismissed, since the prosecutors appear to be "within" the law in their arguments to keep the seal in place, even though we all know the charges exist.

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References:

• Assange Case, If It Exists, Can't Be Made Public, U.S. Argues
• Federal prosecutors fight effort to unseal Assange charges

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