UK court sets Assange extradition ruling date
Britain's Supreme Court said on Wednesday it will give its judgement in the case of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's long-running fight against extradition to Sweden on May 30th.
The court announced the date in a statement on its website, saying the judgment would start at 9:15 am CET next Wednesday and would last around 10 minutes.
Assange took his case to the Supreme Court in February in a last throw of the dice within the British legal system, arguing that the Swedish prosecutor who ordered his arrest in December 2010 was not a proper judicial authority.
"This appeal involves a single issue of law which can be very simply stated. The question is whether a Swedish prosecutor has judicial authority for the purposes of the extradition act," Assange's lawyer Dinah Rose told the court at the time.
Rose argued that legal principles going back 1,500 years were "undermined" by the fact that the warrant for Assange's arrest was issued by a prosecutor, saying there was no guarantee they would be independent and impartial" like a judge's.
But Clare Montgomery, a British lawyer acting on behalf of the Swedish prosecuting authorities, rejected the claims made by the lawyers for the 40-year-old Australian.
"The issuing member state has the task of identifying who it regards as the judicial authority competent to issue the European Arrest Warrant," she told the panel of seven judges in February.
Sweden wants to question the 40-year-old Australian over allegations of rape and sexual assault, but Assange insists the sex was consensual and has argued that the attempt to extradite him is politically motivated.
Assange took his case to the Supreme Court in February in a last throw of the dice within the British legal system, arguing that the Swedish prosecutor who ordered his arrest in December 2010 was not a proper judicial authority.
"This appeal involves a single issue of law which can be very simply stated. The question is whether a Swedish prosecutor has judicial authority for the purposes of the extradition act," Assange's lawyer Dinah Rose told the court at the time.
Rose argued that legal principles going back 1,500 years were "undermined" by the fact that the warrant for Assange's arrest was issued by a prosecutor, saying there was no guarantee they would be independent and impartial" like a judge's.
But Clare Montgomery, a British lawyer acting on behalf of the Swedish prosecuting authorities, rejected the claims made by the lawyers for the 40-year-old Australian.
"The issuing member state has the task of identifying who it regards as the judicial authority competent to issue the European Arrest Warrant," she told the panel of seven judges in February.
Sweden wants to question the 40-year-old Australian over allegations of rape and sexual assault, but Assange insists the sex was consensual and has argued that the attempt to extradite him is politically motivated.
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