Julian Assange makes a gesture to the media from a police vehicle when he arrived at Westminster Magistrates Court on April 11, 2019 in London, England.
Jack Taylor | Getty Images
LONDON – A London court has denied bail to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The decision comes after a ruling on Monday stated that the 49-year-old Australian cannot be extradited to the United States
He is currently being held at HMP Belmarsh, south-east London, on bail on a previous occasion.
“I am pleased that there are substantial grounds to believe that if Assange is released today he would not be handed over to the courts to face the appeal procedure,” Judge Vanessa Baraitser told Reuters.
U.S. authorities want to accuse Assange of espionage after publishing hundreds of thousands of classified military documents and diplomatic cables on WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011.
Baraitser said Monday that extradition would be oppressive because of Assange’s mental health and warned he could commit suicide.
“The general impression is of a depressed and sometimes desperate man, who is really afraid of his future,” Baraitser wrote in his opinion. “For all these reasons, I consider the risk of Mr. Assange to commit suicide, if an extradition order is made, to be substantial.”