Court documents filed on Friday 14/1/2011 described Julian Assange's past and revealed things previously unknown about the man who, according to Edward Snowden, 'changed the way journalism is done by allowing journalists to work with material from primary sources' and according to the US government is an 'enemy of the nation' and will be prosecuted as such until the end of the world. You see, Assange exposed US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, in 750,000 different ways, as much evidence as he had at his disposal. He became the target of all the secret services of the planet, because of the information he found and published, and as the Americans repeat, 'when you play with fire, at some point you will get burned'.
As a child Julian Paul Assange was extremely gifted. The computer was his only friend, and he didn't meet his biological father until he was an adult. However, he had used his (John Simpson) name when he had to register the domain name 'wikileaks.org' somewhere. in October 2006 when it was 'bought' by Dynadot. Father and son later met, as evidenced by the DW documentary which shows Simpton saying that 'we were sitting at the kitchen table when he told me he wanted to start Wikileaks to make classified information available to the general public '. She told him it was a great idea. He continued it from there.
In 2008, Julian had written as the residence of the alleged owner of Wikileaks, Nairobi, Kenya where he himself lived. He had already exposed cases of corruption in the country's government and had already been embroiled in a legal dispute with a Swiss banker named Julius Baer. The latter was pressuring Dynadot to cancel the registration and remove the site from the internet. What had happened:Assange had published details of Bayer's clients, offshored in the Cayman Islands - some of whom were facing tax evasion charges. The banker withdrew the lawsuit, after the outcry he faced for censorship.
Assange, who reportedly had an IQ of 170, has spoken about his father many times in interviews over the years. She had said that she had inherited strong moral values from him. That he kept as a talisman, something she had told him. How "men don't create victims." They are trying to stop people from becomingvictims ".
He had never specified whether he was talking about Simpton or his stepfather, Brett Assange, an actor and small theater owner whom his mother, Christine, married when he was still very young. They lived in Christine's house until it was destroyed by fire. They divorced when Julian was 7 years old. Speaking in 2010, Brett said he was a smart kid with a 'strong' sense of right and wrong. He felt very sure of himself and always supported the weak. He also had a great sense of humor. He recalled once falling from a tree and breaking his arm. He was left lying on the ground. He seemed to be in pain. But he didn't say a word. He didn't cry either. He didn't show his emotions. He would never show." He wasn't surprised when Julian's action was revealed. "For some reason I always thought he would do something like that. He didn't take 'no' for an answer and was very independent".
Parenthesis:his mother had 'run away' from her father's house when he was 17 years old and moved to Sydney. A few years later, she became pregnant with Julian - who was born in 1971 in Townsville, Queensland (in Australia) as Julian Paul Hawkins. On the birth certificate, the mother's name is Christine Ann Hawkins (artist by profession) and the father's name is John Simpton (anti-war activist and builder). The couple separated after Julian's birth.
Court documents from the 2011 trial stated that after his mother's divorce from Brett Assange, Christine met another man, Lief Meinel. They had a son. Meinell abused them all, until Christine took the children and they disappeared. Meinel was a member of one of the most brutal sects called 'Family'. As the Guardian reports, it was led by Ann Hamilton Mirne, who believed he was the Messiah. The sect operated in complete secrecy for two decades, 'hidden' in the countryside outside Melbourne. Her motto was 'unseen, unknown, unheard'.
Two children who managed to escape informed the police about the existence of the 'Family' in 1987. A raid followed and an investigation revealed that Mirne had collected 28 children, through fake adoptions and 'gifts' from her followers, dressed them in the same clothes and bleached their hair to be platinum. Methods of subjugation included beatings, starvation, and emotional torture. Adult believers were chosen by Mirne herself from wealthy families, with the promise of spiritual fulfillment. He convinced them that they were special. He preached something of Christianity, Eastern mysticism and apocalyptic prophecy and forced followers to take LSD and other hallucinogens as part of the initiation ceremony. The rule she had was one:everyone had to do what she said. From what they thought, what they wore, what they ate to who they married. She was responsible for breaking up families, ruining marriages and psychologically wounding dozens of children. For years there was information that Assange was a member of the Family. It turned out that Meinel was a member.
Mother and sons often moved 'from city to city and from state to state' to escape the guy who was stalking them. From the ages of 11 to 16, Julian had lived in at least 37 different areas and changed quite a few schools, until his mother took charge of homeschooling him—so he wouldn't be subservient to the system, and because he couldn't write and write. she writes off her child every time they moved.
In an interview with the 'New Yorker', Assange had said that 'government spies were helping my mother's ex track us down'. Other reports said that Christine was informing her friends about the next destination. This does not negate the fact that Assange believed that secret government agencies were watching him since he was a child.
When she was 13 years old, Christine bought her first son his first computer. "He became his only friend and the only means of communication with the outside world ” his lawyer told a judge, “he literally went from one school to another, sometimes spending four months in the same institution, sometimes six and so on. He was often sidelined. When he joined a new community and was ostracized, for reasons such as being 'teased' or bullied, he had the computer as a real savior of his life, as his 'rock' or".
At 16 Julian started hacking. His code name was Mendax. At 17, the US Pentagon 'entered'. Previously, he created a group of hackers called the International Subversives and together they began to infiltrate sophisticated computer networks around the world. Among the first targets was the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the first working atomic bomb on the planet was created. The 'interventions' were not malicious - but aimed at demonstrating competence. Three rules have always been followed:don't 'break' the systems they breach, don't change the information and don't share it.
Julian married Teresa when he was still a teenager. At 18 he became the father of Daniel. He quickly became embroiled in a child custody battle that ended ten years later. Another trial had begun involving him. In September 1991 he 'hacked' Nortel (a multinational telecommunications company).
The Australian Federal Police 'trapped' his phone - he was using a modem. He raided his home at the end of October. He was charged with 31 violations in 1994. The trial lasted six years. He was so affected that he slept in parks - he believed he was being watched all the time and everywhere. He pleaded guilty to 24 offenses (the others were withdrawn) and paid a fine of A$2,100. He was not jailed because he promised not to do it again - and because there was no evidence of malicious or pecuniary intent. His cooperation (in 1993) with the police, in a child exploitation case, was also appreciated.
Before studying physics and mathematics at the University of Melbourne, he helped write a book on the Internet and was involved in the creation of Australia's first Internet provider (Suburbia Public Access Network). By the way, he dropped out because the students were working on Pentagon projects and he wanted nothing to do with that.
In 1995 he became the forum administrator providing security advice. A year later he had 5000 subscribers. In 1999 he got the domain 'leaks.org', but did nothing with it. In August of the same year, he published a patent he granted to the National Security Agency for voice data technology, which should worry the world because the calls we all make abroad are being intercepted or can be intercepted, transcribed and archived in a foreign country's files. spy agency'. In 2006 he agreed to become a co-founder of Wikileaks. And a consultant to the organization. He also had the title of 'chief in editor' and from 2007 to 2010 he was constantly traveling (in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America) for business.
Wikileaks was created by people who also wanted to expose global scandals around the world so that everyone could form their own opinion.
The website published thousands of classified documents from many different fields (eg from the film industry to the national security of countries). One of the biggest revelations was that of 2010 and the video showing the bombing of an American helicopter that had claimed the lives of 18 civilians in Baghdad. Before time ran out he had published hundreds of thousands of documents (actually more than 250,000) leaked by former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.
Fact:Manning was convicted in July 2013 of espionage and guilty of leaking 750,000 classified or sensitive military and diplomatic documents. She was imprisoned from 2010 until January 2017, when Barack Obama pardoned her - and 'disappeared' the remainder of her 35-year sentence. Last March he refused to testify at the Assange inquiry and spent another seven months in prison. He paid for it (see contempt of court) $256,000. He had previously attempted suicide.
The conclusion was that the data from Iraq showed that 66,000 civilians had been murdered and that the Iraqi forces were torturing their prisoners. The US government had made it clear that it was now tasked with prosecuting Assange for leaking secret files. Der Spiegel, the Guardian and the New York Times had been informed of what Assange had in his possession and had decided to cooperate in order to check the validity of the information.
In December 2010, the intense political "fermentations" in Tunisia turned into an uprising, thanks to a series of US State Department cables published by Wikileaks. These highlighted the financial frauds of the president and dictator Ben Ali's family. For example, they proved that half of the country's business community had ties to Ali, through marriages. The consequence was that the president resigned and started what went down in history as the Arab Spring. It resulted in the removal of Ali, the assassination of Gaddafi and the disastrous civil war in Syria. The Wikileaks website found itself at the center of global attention that had never been seen before - as far as any medium is concerned.
From rock star to 'hiding coward' - the truth was somewhere in the middle
A month earlier and while then US Vice President Joe Biden had called him a 'high tech terrorist' (Hillary Clinton reportedly wondered aloud 'can't we finish him off with a drone?'), Sweden issued an international arrest warrant for him Assange, on charges of sexual assault. There were allegations of raping one woman and sexually harassing another - during his visit to Stockholm.
His enemies say he disappeared to save himself - that he was a coward. Those who were eyewitnesses (such as the journalist Donald Brostom) affirm that not only did he not hide, but he went to the police for a statement. He then spent another five weeks waiting for the next stage of the process which never happened.' He asked for permission to travel to London and the authorities granted it. Then they asked him to come back for a new deposition. Before doing so, he filed for a guarantee that he would not be extradited to the US. Turned down. Then (June 2012) he requested asylum (for political persecution) at the Ecuadorian embassy.
Note:he had not chosen the Ecuadorian embassy by chance. The then president of the country, Rafael Correa, was a supporter of Wikileaks. Assange appeared on the doorstep at 1pm, dressed as a courier, climbed the stairs, entered the Embassy and handed in the asylum application. Immediately, British police officers appeared outside the building, to arrest and extradite him.
He made it clear that both meetings were consensual, as well as that the accusations were "fabrications" of his enemies, to tarnish him. In any case, the sexual assault charge was barred in 2015, because the statute of limitations ran out. The rape case was dropped in 2017 after they failed to formally inform him of the allegations while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Assange stayed in a small office converted into a bedroom at the embassy in central London for seven years (2012-2019). The total cost of hosting it reached 5,300,000 euros. He had his cat, James, with him. In the space there was a bed, an electronic computer, a led lamp, a small kitchen, a shower and a gym. There he also received his guests, people like Pamela Anderson and Lady Gaga. He also had a small balcony at his disposal, from which he addressed his supporters.
In 2016, WikiLeaks made another huge revelation about the US Democratic Party - a collection of 19,252 emails and 8,034 attachments from the accounts of top officials between January 2015 and May 2016. They made it clear that while the Democratic National Committee had to remain neutral, in the first claim of the anointing, officials said they were irritated with the campaign of Bernie Sanders and in some places, ideas were mentioned about undermining his candidacy so that Hillary Clinton would win. The latter's (irreparably damaged) side accused the Russians of involvement aimed at defeating Donald Trump. The Wikileaks people insisted that 'it doesn't matter how the information came about, but that it was in the public interest and therefore had to be published'.
Assange remained at the embassy even after his issues with the Swedes disappeared as he faced another charge:that of the United Kingdom for refusing to appear in court. Until 2017 everything was going well. Then Lenin Moreno was elected president of Ecuador, who aimed to create a better relationship with the US. He imposed house rules on Assange (for example, to take better care of his cat and keep the bathroom clean) and required him to pay for the use of the computer, his food and the washing machine. Also, each visitor left their bag and mobile phone at the entrance (experts checked and 'took' everything there and could help them 'hunt'), while cameras watched everything.
One of the first punishments he imposed was to 'cut off' his Internet connection "because he had not kept the agreement not to interfere in the internal relations of countries ”, with the publication of documents from the Vatican. It wasn't the only violation. The President had informed that Assange had installed prohibited electronic equipment, in order to have access to the security files of the embassy.
What Lenin Moreno didn't say, but others did, was that WikiLeaks was suspected of being behind the revelation of an anonymous website, according to which the president's brother had set up an offshore company. He had also published private photos of the President and his family. Στις 11 Απριλίου του 2019, ο Πρόεδρος Μορένο είπε το 'έως εδώ και μη παρέκει'. Κατηγόρησε τον Ασάνζ για 'επαναλαμβανόμενες παραβιάσεις διεθνών συμβάσεων και πρωτοκόλλων καθημερινότητας' και μέσω Twitter ανακοίνωσε το τέλος του διπλωματικού ασύλου.
Τι είχε κάνει ο Ασάνζ και σύγχυσε τον Πρόεδρο; Όπως αποκάλυψε ο Υπουργός Εξωτερικών, Χοσέ Βαλένθια χρησιμοποιούσε κινητό τηλέφωνο που δεν είχε καταχωρηθεί στην πρεσβεία, είχε προσβάλει επανειλημμένως τους υπαλλήλους (τους αποκαλούσε κατασκόπους των ΗΠΑ) και προκαλούσε υλικές ζημιές στο χώρο, κάνοντας skateboard και παίζοντας ποδόσφαιρο. Στις αναφορές είχε ακουστεί πως περνούσε και εβδομάδες χωρίς να κάνει μπάνιο.
Ο Υπουργός κατέληξε στο ότι το τέλος του ασύλου είχε ως στόχο να βοηθήσει τον Ασάνζ να αντιμετωπίσει τα ψυχολογικά προβλήματα που αντιμετώπιζε, με αυτόπτη μάρτυρα να ομολογεί στους New York Times πως είχε κατάθλιψη -και για αυτό η συμπεριφορά του είχε κουράσει τους διπλωμάτες. Μια από τις τελευταίες απαιτήσεις ήταν να βάλουν στο χώρο του κουμπί πανικού, στην περίπτωση που απειλούνταν η ζωή του. Το αίτημα έγινε αποδεκτό. Περαιτέρω πληροφορίες δεν είχαν δοθεί, εν τούτοις κατά τη σύλληψη του από τις βρετανικές αρχές (αμέσως μετά τη λήξη του ασύλου) οι πράκτορες ήταν πολύ προσεχτικοί, ώστε να μην βρει ο Ασάνζ την ευκαιρία να επιστρέψει στο δωμάτιο του.
Έκτοτε αντιμετωπίζει νομικές διαδικασίες σε δυο χώρες:το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο και τις ΗΠΑ. Η Σουηδία σκεφτόταν να ανοίξει πάλι την έρευνα για το βιασμό. Δικάστηκε ως παραβάτης του νόμου που αφορά την εγγύηση (τότε που είχε εξαφανιστεί) και καταδικάστηκε σε 50 εβδομάδες φυλάκισης. Οι ΗΠΑ αποσφράγισαν κατηγορητήριο εναντίον του Ασάνζ, σχετικό με τις διαρροές της Τσέλσι Μάνινγκ. Στις 23/5 του 2019 πρόσθεσαν και άλλες για παραβίαση του νόμου περί κατασκοπείας, απόφαση που επικρίθηκε από τους κολοσσούς των media ως επίθεση κατά της πρώτης τροπολογίας του Συντάγματος (για την ελευθερία του Τύπου). Είχαν ήδη αρχίσει οι ακροάσεις για το αίτημα έκδοσης στις ΗΠΑ.
Στις 4/1 του 2021 η δικαστής Βανέσα Μπαρέιτσερ απέρριψε το αίτημα των Αμερικανών (εξήγησε πως η ψυχική του υγεία είναι σε κακή κατάσταση και υπάρχουν φόβοι πως θα επιχειρήσει να τερματίσει τη ζωή του) που έχουν 14 μέρες να κάνουν έφεση. Είναι έτοιμοι να του απευθύνουν 18 κατηγορίες, με ποινή φυλάκισης που φτάνει στα 175 χρόνια. Το Grunge έγραψε πως 'το μεγαλύτερο έγκλημα του Ασάνζ ενδεχομένως να είναι ότι ντρόπιασε τις ΗΠΑ'. Ο Ασάνζ ήταν και παραμένει στην Her Majesty's Prison Belmarsh του Λονδίνου, με τις πληροφορίες να επιμένουν πως έχει σοβαρό πρόβλημα υγείας. Ο ψυχίατρος που τον εξέτασε, κατέθεσε ότι 'πάσχει από υποτροπιάζουσα καταθλιπτική διαταραχή και υπάρχει έντονος κίνδυνος αυτοκτονίας που πρέπει να αντιμετωπιστεί προσεχτικά και άμεσα'. Εκπρόσωπος της φυλακής ομολόγησε πως ο Ασάνζ μεταφέρθηκε στην απομόνωση, εξηγώντας ότι 'αυτό έγινε για να τον προστατεύσουμε από τις ιδέες που είχε να κάνει κακό στον εαυτό του'.
