Assange's lawyer expects U.S. spy charges soon: report
(Reuters) - A lawyer for Julian Assange, the founder of the WikiLeaks website, said on Friday she expects U.S. prosecutors will indict her client soon for espionage.
The lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, told ABC News in London that a U.S. indictment of Assange was imminent but the report offered no further details or comment by Robinson about why she believed charges were likely to be filed soon.
The U.S. Justice Department has been looking into a range of criminal charges, including violations of the 1917 Espionage Act, that could be filed in the WikiLeaks case involving the release of hundreds of confidential and classified U.S. diplomatic cables.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on Robinson's prediction of an indictment. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder earlier this week said that prosecutors were looking beyond the espionage law for possible charges.
"That is certainly something that might play a role, but there are other statutes, other tools at our disposal," Holder told reporters on Monday. "I authorized just last week a number of things to be done so that we can get to the bottom of this and hold people accountable."
Reviewing other laws for possible use in the case could require additional work for prosecutors and mean charges would not be filed immediately.
Robinson told ABC News that they believe Assange is protected by the free speech right in the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment as the publisher of WikiLeaks.
Assange has been sitting in a London jail after being arrested in connection with an unrelated investigation by Swedish authorities into alleged sex crimes in that country.
Some legal experts have said it would be difficult for the Obama administration to prosecute WikiLeaks or Assange, who is an Australian citizen, for espionage. Other parts of U.S. law make it easier to prosecute people for unauthorized disclosure of certain classified information.
(Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; Editing by Jackie Frank)
Credit: Reuters (www.reuters.com)
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