The French National Assembly on Friday rejected a cross-party draft resolution calling on the government of President Emanuel Macron to grant refugee status in France to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who remains imprisoned in London and is in danger in the United States.
The text examined was of course only symbolic, as it was not legally binding. However, he secured the support of presidential candidates – Communist Fabian Roussell and radical left-wing leader Jean-Luc Melanson -, environmentalists, centrists, a socialist and a few elected by the majority.
The resolution was considered a few days after the French Parliament and Senate agreed on a bill to provide better protection for rioters and witnesses in France.
Despite the zeal and lyricism of the speakers in favor of Mr. Assange, the text was voted against by 31 votes to 17.
“It’s a victory. We have given a voice to the one who is being silenced “, the MP who was the rapporteur of the text, Jennifer de Temerman, referring to Mr. Assange, who has been held in the highest security prison in the United Kingdom since 2019, after spending seven years in prison, Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he had taken refuge.
The extradition of Julian Assange is being demanded by the American justice, which has prosecuted him under the law against espionage. If convicted and sentenced, he faces up to 175 years in prison for leaking more than 700,000 classified US military and diplomatic documents, mainly to Afghanistan and Iraq, from 2010 onwards.
“He denounced barbaric acts and uncharacteristic mistakes that needed to be exposed,” said Communist MP Stefan Pe.
However, the majority of the deputies rejected the text, pointing out the “controversial points” of the resolution, mainly of legal and diplomatic order.
Supporters of the Australian characterize his case as an attack on freedom of the press.
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