U.N. Special Rapporteur Nils Melzer Continues To Call For Assange’s Freedom

Nils Melzer continues to call out for Julian Assange to be freed in various interviews citing that Assange shows all the signs of psychological torture. Melzer visited Assange in early May and his report was released on May 31st of this year. He continues to advocate for Assange’s freedom and states Assange would face a highly politicized trial in the U.S.

In an interview by the Canary:

Mr Assange has been deliberately exposed, for a period of several years, to progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, the cumulative effects of which can only be described as psychological torture.
The evidence made available to me strongly suggests that the primary responsibility for the sustained and concerted abuse inflicted on Mr Assange falls on the governments of the United Kingdom, Sweden, the United States and, more recently, also Ecuador. Accordingly, these governments would be responsible jointly for the foreseeable cumulative effect of their conduct, but also each of them separately for their respective contributions, whether through direct perpetration, instigation, consent, or acquiescence. Further, each of them has consistently failed to protect Mr Assange from serious abuse, insult and intimidation by media and other private actors within their jurisdiction.
To me it is inconceivable that so many layers of profoundly skewed and biased steps in the judicial proceedings against Julian Assange could be just a coincidence.

The consistent and repeated failure of all involved states to protect Mr Assange’s fundamental right to fair judicial proceedings and due process makes the hypothesis of mere coincidence extremely unrealistic and gives a strong impression of bias and arbitrary manipulation. This starts with the secretive grand jury indictment in the United States, continues with the abusive manner in which Swedish prosecutors disseminated, re-cycled and perpetuated their ‘preliminary investigation’ into alleged sexual offences, exacerbates with the termination by Ecuador of Mr Assange’s asylum status and citizenship without any form of due process, and culminates in overt bias against Mr Assange being shown by British judges since his arrest.

The only realistic explanation for this sustained systemic failure of the judiciary is that the United States, and probably also the other involved states, are trying to make an example of Mr Assange before the eyes of the world, not as much as a punishment for whatever real or perceived harm he is alleged to have caused, but as a measure of deterrence for others who might be tempted to imitate Wikileaks and Mr Assange in the future. In these circumstances, Mr Assange has absolutely no chance to get a fair judicial proceeding in any of these jurisdictions.

Melzer has given multiple interviews and recently posted this on Twitter:

Judicial prosecution becomes judicial persecution when Governments prosecute whistleblowers (let alone journalists) for disclosing crimes without prosecuting the crimes disclosed by them. At the very least, we must all be equal before the law. @AJEnglish

It is important to note that Melzer originally refused to see Assange in the Embassy in London because he believed the propaganda spread by the MainStream Media.