London, May 16, AZERTAC

“I visited Julian Assange in Belmarsh two weeks ago, and he is in bad health. He has suffered from incarceration that has been going on for more than five years in a maximum-security prison,” Kristinn Hrafnsson, Editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, told AZERTAC in an exclusive interview.

“But bear in mind as well that before that, he was an asylee in a small embassy in London for seven years without being able to go outside. And before that, for two years, he was under house arrest. So it's been 14 years, 14 years of deprived liberty of one form or another. And of course, it has an effect on the individual's mental health. He is suffering greatly. But what keeps him going is the support of people all around the world, and of course, the tremendous support of his biggest supporter and campaigner, who is Stella Assange, his wife.”

“I do not have much faith in the court system in the United Kingdom after having observed in courtrooms after courtrooms the dismissal of logic, of common sense. I've come to the conclusion that the entire process when it comes to Julian Assange is twisted, corrupt, and politicized.

The simple fact that he is being dragged to what they call a spy court in the Eastern District of Virginia, where everybody knows that the jury pool is from all the government agencies around there in the area. They have a perfect track record when it comes to espionage cases in this court, a perfect track record of persecution against individuals. Everybody who has been dragged in front of that court has been found guilty. It's a 100% guilty record when it comes to this court. So, he does not stand a chance of any fair trial, on top of the fact that the case has been so politicized with comments by the leaders of the country,” Kristinn Hrafnsson added.

Ayten Abbasli

Special correspondent