Maria Zakharova on Julian Assange and Crocus City Hall
How are the Julian Assange case and the recent terrorist attack related?
First of all, in case you have not read/heard about it, today the British High Court has ruled out that Julian Assange can appeal against extradition to the USA, if the latter fails to provide certain assurances within 3 weeks, as reported by a few media outlets, such as BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera. Otherwise, a final hearing could take place on 20th May 2024 - in this case, i.e. if Julian Assange’s final appeal in UK is not granted, his last chance against extradition would be the European Court of Human Rights.
I will let Maria Zakharova explain how the Julian Assange case and the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk (Russia) last Friday are related.
What follows is the English translation of a recent post of Maria Zakharova, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, on her Telegram channel. All emphasis mine.
The High Court in London today issued an interim judgement to delay the extradition to the United States of Julian Assange, the founder of the Wikileaks portal and an Australian investigative journalist.
Let's do the math together.
In November 2010, a Swedish court, at the insistence of the US, issued an arrest warrant for Assange. Interpol immediately put him on the wanted list. That's the starting point, a tentative zero.
- In February 2011, a British court ordered Assange's extradition to Sweden. Three months had passed since the first warrant was issued.
- In June 2012, the British Supreme Court confirmed the decision to extradite Assange, the journalist took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy. Eighteen months passed.
- In May 2017, Sweden dropped the investigation into Assange's case. Police in London said at the same moment that Assange would still be arrested once he left the embassy. Seventy-eight months passed.
- in April 2019, police in London, after pressuring Quito, entered the Ecuadorian embassy and arrested Assange simultaneously on two requests - an American extradition request, which became the main request after the Swedish case was dropped, and a British arrest warrant. 101 months passed.
At the same time, it became known that the Australian faces an unthinkable 175 years in a US prison if his extradition request to the US is fulfilled.
- In May 2019, Assange's extradition hearing to the US began. 102 months have passed.
- in September 2020, substantive hearings began at the Central Criminal Court in London. A total of 118 months have passed. 17 months since his arrest.
- In January 2021, the Magistrates' Court in the London borough of Westminster refused to release Assange on bail. A total of 122 months have passed. 21 months since his arrest.
- In December 2021, a London court approved Assange's extradition to the US. A total of 133 months have passed. 32 months since his arrest.
- In March 2022, Britain's Supreme Court rejected Assange's extradition appeal. A total of 136 months have passed. 35 months since his arrest.
- In June 2022, British Home Office chief Priti Patel decided to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the US. A total of 139 months have passed. From arrest - 38 months.
- In June 2023, the High Court of England and Wales rejected Assange's appeal against the decision to extradite him. A total of 151 months have passed. Fifty months since his arrest.
And so, in March 2024, the High Court in London decided to postpone the extradition to the US of the WikiLeaks founder pending the outcome of the appeal. A total of 161 months have passed. That's 60 months since his arrest.
It took 161 months - almost 5,000 days - more than 13 years for the British justice system to decide... WAIT FOR MORE!
Even counting from the arrest, it's been 60 months - five years.
Although, if you count it that way, you want to ask the question, what were the British doing all that time when the Australian was sitting in the next street - in the Ecuadorian embassy? At the same time, as a result of pressure from London, he was in torture conditions - in a cramped room with no access to the outside world and under round-the-clock surveillance by Scotland Yard.
The entire justice system of the Kingdom has become a farce - a mockery in front of the world. All this is a mockery of human dignity on the part of the monstrously inefficient, punitive British pseudo-justice.
It took London many years to take a criminal procedural decision against the journalist.
But London "knew everything" about the perpetrators of the terrorist attack in Krasnogorsk a few hours later.
On the dome of the Old Bailey - the central criminal court in London - there is a statue of Themis. With eyes wide open, she is looking West - towards America.
Assange, who has devoted his life to uncovering the secrets of a conglomerate of British and American intelligence agencies, becomes a victim of this corrupt British pseudo-Themis.
❗️ We once again draw the attention of the international community to the persecution of an investigative journalist, inspired by Washington and unceasing, which for many years now has been causing serious damage to the institution of journalism and the independent media, as well as flouting the fundamental principles of freedom of speech and human rights.
You may have seen some memes around the Internet ridiculing how fast US, UK and the other NATO countries jumped to conclusions about the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall last Friday, 22nd March 2024, but, in case you have not, I will post a couple I have seen recently - I think they are quite witty:
Finally, I strongly recommend that you read this excellent article by Pepe Escobar about the Nuland – Budanov – Tajik – Crocus connection.
If you have problem accessing the article linked above on Strategic Culture Foundation web-site, please let me know and I will republish it here.
UPDATE (27/03/2024): Today John Helmer has posted an article on his blog, “Dances with Bears”, with his analysis of the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk (Russia) last Friday 22nd March 2024, which I suggest that you read, if you have ~20 spare minutes: THE EVIDENCE ON THE CROCUS GANG ATTACK IN MOSCOW.