AFP - The founder of the website Wikileaks Julian Assange appealed his extradition to Sweden as part of a case of sexual violence, said Thursday the British justice system.
Lawyers for the Australian filed a formal application before the High Court of Justice in London, said a spokesman for the court, but when will the hearing has not yet been set.
A London court had validated 24 February the extradition request issued against him by Sweden where two women accused him of sexual assault and rape during a stay in Stockholm last August.The founder of Wikileaks, aged 39, has always denied the charges against him and ensured that young women were consenting.
The judge had swept the arguments of the defense that the Australian is a victim of a conspiracy and an "abuse of right" from the Swedish court has issued a European arrest warrant against him.
He also found no merit in the argument that Julian Assange could be extradited from Sweden to further the United States, with the risk of being imprisoned at the U.S. base at Guantanamo, even sentenced to death.
His lawyers immediately announced their intention to appeal the court decision, to the chagrin of two young Swedish defender who has lamented the further delay caused by this action. "I told my clients that I hoped would be completed before the summer," argued Claes Borgström.
Supporters of the founder of Wikileaks believe he is the victim of a conspiracy, after the disclosure in recent months tens of thousands of official documents by Wikileaks, which have embarrassed Washington and many capitals.
This appeal to the High Court, however, is one of many legal remedies available to Julian Assange.Once the decision of the High Court made a further appeal is possible before the Court of Appeal within a month, then a final challenge before the Supreme Court, in the same period.
The Supreme Court decision is final in the United Kingdom. But the defense Assange could still turn to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg (France), extending even this long legal process.
Julian Assange, who visited the British police on December 7, was released on bail nine days later. He has been under house arrest in the opulent mansion of one of his friends to 200 miles from London.He must wear an electronic bracelet and be subject to a curfew.
On Wednesday, the U.S. soldier Bradley Manning, who was suspected of having provided military documents to Wikileaks, was charged with 22 new leaders, including collusion with the enemy ".
This charge is punishable by death, but the U.S. attorney decided not to require.
The young man is in solitary confinement since July in a military prison in Virginia.
