Megan #FREEAssange · @GraffitiExpert
9th Dec 2019 from TwitLonger
A lawyer’s concerns on handling of Assange case
Assange was charged for "jumping bail". The actual section of the Bail Act is technically "fails...to surrender". If someone is on bail and they fail to appear at the time and place required then they have committed an offence under the Act. HOWEVER, there is an exception which is available as a Defence and that is "reasonable cause".
From the reporting of the conviction in April when Assange was dragged out of the embassy and into Court charged under the Bail Act, there is nothing to confirm that his lawyers forcefully argued that seeking and being granted political asylum in accordance with international law and every person's right to do so provided him with the Defence of "reasonable cause". Maybe they did, but I've never seen evidence of it. In any case, he was famously convicted and later sentenced to just short of the maximum possible penalty (52 weeks imprisonment is the max). Usually the penalty is a fine, or in very serious cases a brief jail sentence.
He was convicted of the bail offence on 11 April and then remanded to the higher Crown Court for sentencing. The Crown Court could impose the maximum penalty whereas the Magistrate could only impose a lesser sentence. He was sentenced on 1 May to 50 weeks.
After conviction, you have 28 days to file an appeal against the conviction. IF they ran the "reasonable cause" Defence and it was rejected then that would have been grounds to appeal. No appeal was filed and once the time expires you have lost that chance.
Even if you do not appeal against your conviction, you CAN appeal against the sentence imposed within 28 days of sentencing. SOMEONE, we really don't know who but I suspect it may have been Assange himself, DID file an appeal against the sentence. That appeal was listed for a full hearing on 23 July, but it was mysteriously dropped on 18 July, just a few days before the hearing. No announcement or explanation from Wikileaks or the "team", just confirmation from the Court that it had been dropped.
So what?
It's extremely important because now he is being held on remand, and as I said above he has a right to apply to be released on bail until the extradition hearing. If you have been convicted for jumping bail and that offence was so "serious" that you got the maximum penalty for it, then obviously it is much harder to now apply for bail in this case. IF he had appealed against the conviction (and even the sentence imposed) then it would be much easier to argue for bail now. It can still be done, and it should be done, but the task is made harder.
So - no appeal against the conviction, no appeal against the sentence, and no application for bail even though every 4 weeks his remand must be re-considered by the Court. AND, he is being effectively gagged by his closest circle.
On remand he is allowed 2 social visits (up to 3 people each visit) every week and unlimited legal visits. There has been a parade of people coming and going from Belmarsh: singer MIA, Vivienne Westwood, John Pilger, his father John Shipton, Australian journalists and many more....and yet not a single serious direct message out from him? Yes, they all tell us "he's effectively in solitary confinement", "he has lost 15 kilos", :Nils Melzer says he's being tortured", "doctors say he might die" and so on. But NEVER: "Julian says xxxxx, and yyyyy and zzzzz". Never. He's being gagged but I can't work out why or what good that could possibly do his cause. Nobody needs to know personal private information or what he discussed with his lawyers, but he is being turned into an abstraction without a voice.
Wikileaks has appointed a UK Labor connected PR man from New Zealand called Richard Hillgrove to do the PR which we are seeing played out as a campaign which seems to have the theme: "This isn't about Julian, it's about freedom of the [establishment] press and free speech!"
A PR industry news outlet called "The Drum" did an interview with him - it's behind a wall but the NZ Herald did a piece on it in November 2018. It's eerie, the gagging and "de-personalising" of Assange is a deliberate PR strategy:
“The Christchurch-born and Massey University-educated Hillgrove, 47, came to work for the WikiLeaks figurehead after being connected by Assange's long-serving lawyer Jennifer Robinson, according to an interview with UK marketing and advertising trade news site, The Drum.
The Kiwi expatriate and founder of 6 Hillgrove Public Relations, who was convicted in 2014 on a £93,000 tax fraud, said he's trying to make Assange's PR "less personal".
"The cult of personality aspect around Julian Assange has caused a lot of his problems," Hillgrove told The Drum in a Q&A.
"Even though he's broken no laws and simply published the truth, in exactly the same way the New York Times or Guardian do, they are treating him personally like some sort of criminal.
"The move [to] take him out of the editor role of WikiLeaks is a good start to de-personalising everything."
Hillgrove believes his PR skills have "greatly amplified" Assange's message but he wants to get "more supportive voices" come forward and to reinforce the United Nations ruling that he has been arbitrarily detained and that there are serious concerns about his health.
"Not just the usual voices like Vivienne Westwood and Pamela Anderson, but other people coming forward," Hillgrove said.”
Sadly, I could go on but I'll leave it there for now. In the short term I believe the most important thing is to get him his voice back and let him speak for himself. Equal or second is getting him out on bail. The extradition hearing is 24 February, the next remand decision is 13 December and there will be another in January and February (every 4 weeks). It's almost getting too late to apply and then appeal to the High Court when it is inevitably refused.