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U.S. Army Captain Michael Kelvington, commander of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, bows next to remains of Gulam Dostager, a member of Afghan Local Police who was killed in the blast of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) during the joint Tor Janda (Black Flag in Pashtu) operation, in Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 25, 2012. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

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U.S. Army Captain Michael Kelvington, commander of the Battle company, 1-508 Parachute Infantry battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, bows next to remains of Gulam Dostager, a member of Afghan Local Police who was killed in the blast of an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) during the joint Tor Janda (Black Flag in Pashtu) operation, in Zahri district of Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan May 25, 2012. REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov (AFGHANISTAN - Tags: MILITARY CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

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Members of the U.S. Navy Blue Angels fly over the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan as part of the 25th annual Fleet Week celebration in New York, May 23, 2012. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz (UNITED STATES - Tags: MILITARY ANNIVERSARY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

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Assange's lawyer expects U.S. spy charges soon: report

WASHINGTON | Fri Dec 10, 2010 1:03pm EST

WASHINGTON (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)
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Comments (2)
Richard.Love93 wrote:
I would like to know the amount of money spent on the investigations to prosecute assange
and also the amount spent on investigations into war crimes

Dec 10, 2010 1:41pm EST  --  Report as abuse
LaraD1214 wrote:
This is disgusting. Assange is Australian!!! The United States does not rule the world! Our laws should not apply to everyone around the globe. In an age of increasing globalization and American decline, I hope this changes fast. I’m an American citizen who would love nothing more than for the US to be permanently humbled, gain respect for other countries and stop trying to impose our values on everyone else and police the entire globe. The US is still acting like the playground bully whom nobody likes but everyone is too afraid to challenge. It makes me fiercely ashamed to be an American.

Dec 12, 2010 2:46am EST  --  Report as abuse
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