Assange is being charged under the CFAA. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years. The statute of limitations for charges the CFAA is five years - the indictment was filed after eight years from the alleged incident.
The US is claiming that the reason the statute of limitations doesn't apply is "terrorism".
I'm not sure Assange meets any reasonable criteria of being a terrorist.
Secondly, the charge stems from a few lines of instant message conversations. Specifically, Manning said to Assange that she was unable to crack a password hash. Assange said he had rainbow tables that could be used. Manning sent Assange a password hash.
A couple of days later, Assange stated he had "no luck so far" with the hash. There is no other evidence Assange even attempted to crack the hash and definitely no evidence that it was successful or that it harmed the US in any way.
That's basically the entire case.
One other point: the case will be tried in East Virginia, which is home to the densest population of jurors that happen to work/ have worked in national security in the nation. This is intentional, of course and it's the same reason Snowden is also unwilling to return to a US trial - the jury is known to have strong pro-government views, strong ties to the national security apparatus.
EDIT: The bigger concern is that there are only four spots for the public to view the case and all of the online access was cut, so almost no public observers are allowed in. This is concerning given the broad implications of the trial and the fact that there is obviously enormous political pressure being brought to bear.
> The US is claiming that the reason the statute of limitations doesn't apply is "terrorism".
The US AG is currently classifying 3 cities where protests are occurring as 'anarchist jurisdictions' so it's a fair bet that the truth of words hold no water to this administration.
The US is claiming that the reason the statute of limitations doesn't apply is "terrorism".
I'm not sure Assange meets any reasonable criteria of being a terrorist.
Secondly, the charge stems from a few lines of instant message conversations. Specifically, Manning said to Assange that she was unable to crack a password hash. Assange said he had rainbow tables that could be used. Manning sent Assange a password hash.
A couple of days later, Assange stated he had "no luck so far" with the hash. There is no other evidence Assange even attempted to crack the hash and definitely no evidence that it was successful or that it harmed the US in any way.
That's basically the entire case.
One other point: the case will be tried in East Virginia, which is home to the densest population of jurors that happen to work/ have worked in national security in the nation. This is intentional, of course and it's the same reason Snowden is also unwilling to return to a US trial - the jury is known to have strong pro-government views, strong ties to the national security apparatus.
EDIT: The bigger concern is that there are only four spots for the public to view the case and all of the online access was cut, so almost no public observers are allowed in. This is concerning given the broad implications of the trial and the fact that there is obviously enormous political pressure being brought to bear.