Court is scheduled to start in just over 10 minutes for Julian Assange's preliminary appeal hearing. Here's what today's proceedings will cover: assangedefense.org/hearing-covera…
Court is in session in US v Assange. Ed Fitzgerald arguing for the defense, Clair Dobbin for the prosecution. Julian appears to be participating from Belmarsh via remote video.
The High Court judge is explaining that today's hearing will cover the scope of the appeal in this case and will not determine the appeal decision itself.
US govt arguing that the district judge in Assange’s extradition hearing erred in the way she determined Julian would be a suicide risk if extradited. Says the defendant must have a particular type of mental illness that compounds suicide risk, & that Julian doesn't
US attempting to undermine the testimony of Professor Michael Kopelman, the psychiatrist who evaluated Assange and found he was severely depressed and would pursue suicide with a 'single-minded determination'
US is supposed to only argue these (wiseupaction.info/2021/08/03/wha…) narrow legal points but is recounting Assange entering the Ecuadorian Embassy, publishing docs via WikiLeaks, hosting a “chat show”, attempting to call Assange’s autism diagnosis into question. #AssangeCase
Audio has been difficult to hear clearly. US running through its appeal application, saying Prof Kopelman ‘concealed’ Assange’s relationship w/ Stella Moris & the birth of his two children while he was in the Embassy, attempting to paint Prof Kopelman as biased in Assange’s favor
US says Prof Kopelman was “misleading” in his presentations to the district court, US has spent several minutes going over exactly when the prosecution was aware of Assange’s relationship with Moris and when Kopelman was aware of it
From defense filings: "[the US] approach runs contrary to the well-established principle that the appellate court should respect the competence of the District Judge to determine for herself the issues of the reliability and weight of the expert witnesses she herself heard."
Cont'd: "their approach wholly undermines the primacy of the extradition hearing itself and the deference due to the findings and evaluations of the District Judge, who is expressly entrusted by Parliament to make these assessments." #AssangeCase
Stella Moris: "The ultimate strategy by the US government is to try to get the court to dismiss important evidence by one of the most eminent neuropsychiatrists in Britain, Michael Kopelman, regarding Julian’s mental health." ('Updates' here crowdjustice.com/case/assangeap…) #AssangeCase
District Judge's ruling blocking Assange's extradition: "First, I did not accept that Professor Kopelman failed in his duty to the court when he did not disclose Ms. Morris’s relationship with Mr. Assange." (judiciary.uk/wp-content/upl…) 
US seizing on the judge's next paragraph, despite the above: "Professor Kopelman’s decision to conceal their relationship was misleading and inappropriate in the context of his obligations to the court, but an understandable human response to Ms. Morris’s predicament."
More from Jan. ruling: "I preferred the expert opinions of Professor Kopelman and Dr. Deeley to those of Dr. Blackwood. Dr. Blackwood did not accept Professor Kopelman diagnosis of severe depressive episode with psychotic features" and didn't diagnose Assange with autism disorder
Judge says to the US, 'You’re really presenting this as an adjunct to ground 1 which you were allowed rather than as ground 3 which you are seeking'
Grounds here:
Grounds here:
Edward Fitzgerald QC rises for the defense. Recounts that the judge considered all of Kopelman's testimony and that of Deeley and others and found Kopelman had not failed in his duty to the court #AssangeCase
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser in her ruling: "In short, I found Professor Kopelman’s opinion to be impartial and dispassionate; I was given no reason to doubt his motives or the reliability of his evidence." #AssangeCase
Defense's Ed Fitzgerald continuing to review the District Judge's assessment of Prof Kopelman's testimony, and why she found it more reliable than that of Dr Blackwood, whose assessment was based on "limited contact" "within a single week"
#AssangeCase As Fitzgerald recounts, the District Judge's conclusion was clear and considered:
Fitzgerald: it cannot be that one lapse [concealing their relationship to protect their privacy], no matter how reasonable given the human predicament, renders his whole submission inadmissible. It must be considered in context. #AssangeCase
Parties are discussing prospective length of appeal hearing, potential defense cross-appeal; judge rejects prosecution’s request for a 4-day hearing, suggests October 19-20 or October 26-28 #AssangeCase
Court is now adjourned for lunch and as we understand it a judgement on the rejected grounds for appeal will be delivered at 2pm London time, potentially along with a decision on appeal dates in October. #AssangeCase
By the time of October's appeal hearing, Julian will have been detained at maximum-security HMP Belmarsh for more than 2 years *after* his bail sentence ended (and more than 2.5 years since his arrest) defend.wikileaks.org/2019/09/23/bai…
Court is back in session #AssangeCase. Prosecution prefers October 27-28th for the appeal hearing.
High Court judge is granting the US the 2 other grounds of argument in its appeal. Says it feels the decision over Kopelman's testimony should go to weight rather than admissibility, but it is at least "arguable" #AssangeCase
Julian Assange's extradition appeal hearing will be heard October 27-28, 2021. #AssangeCase
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