WikiLeaks Founder Ordered Freed as Court Rejects Appeal

LONDON - The London High Court bail on Thursday at Julian Assange the founder of the group Wikileaks antisecrecy while he fights extradition to Sweden on a warrant in connection with the alleged sexual offenses.

But Judge Duncan Ouseley added more restrictive conditions on bail to those imposed by a lower court two days ago, when prosecutors appealed and said Assange was a flight risk.
It was not immediately clear when he would be released from prison. Mr. Assange British lawyer Mark Stephens, told reporters that if the formalities for the release of his client have not been completed within the next few hours, he would Assange Wandsworth Prison in south-west London and be released from there later.


In dismissing the appeal by prosecutors, Justice Ouseley said he accepted the prosecution's arguments that many of those who have paid a bail of Mr. Assange did so because they supported Wikileaks and may consider " flight as an act fair and justified "to keep the beleaguered Web site running.

Dressed in a white open shirt collar and a dark suit, Mr Assange sitting with legs crossed through the two-hour hearing before the High Court, which is near the theater district of London. He reacted impassively when the judge pronounced his decision Ouseley.

Bail of $ 315,000 was granted by the lower court Tuesday after a friend of Mr. Assange offered to let her stay in a mansion in Suffolk, an hour's drive from London in the east of England.

Under the bail conditions set by the trial court, Mr. Assange must spend every night at home, Ellingham Hall, a Georgian house with 10 rooms on an area of 650 acres owned by Vaughan Smith, founder of rich media Frontline Club in London.

The conditions include a curfew, daily visits to the police and the electronic tagging to allow police to track his movements.

On Thursday, Justice Ouseley said that in addition, Mr. Assange would be limited to a small area around Ellingham Hall than to give free access to the entire estate. The judge also asked for additional financial guarantees for at least two close associates of Mr. Assange, Sarah Harrison and Joseph Farrell. The newest applications for bail and sureties brought the total to $ 370,000.

Geoffrey Robertson, one of the most important lawyers in Britain, which is to assist the defense team of Mr. Assange, joked Thursday that during his stay at Ellingham Hall, Mr. Assange would also be under the control game wardens in the field.

The hearing Thursday was officially separated from Mr. Assange role in the publication of some 250,000 and U.S. diplomatic documents came as federal prosecutors in Washington have sought evidence that would allow them to charge to help an analyst Army Intelligence on suspicion of leaking information.

U.S. prosecutors believe that if he did, they could charge him as a conspirator, rather than a passive recipient of the documents.

Wikileaks said on its website on Thursday it had so far released one of the .606 251 287 diplomatic cables.

court appearance in London Mr Assange is linked to allegations of sexual misconduct three times with two young Swedish women in Stockholm last August, which he denies. Swedish prosecutors say they want him to be returned to their country to question him in connection with accusations that he broke the Swedish rape and other acts.

Mr Assange said the encounters were consensual, but his accusers say they have ceased to be consensual if a condom was not used.

The Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday that the appeal against the bail has been launched by the British Crown Prosecution Service, not their Swedish counterparts, who said they had "not yet in sight at all on bail."

The case has become bitterly divisive between supporters and opponents of Mr. Assange - and the object of much attention by the news media worldwide. Dozens of journalists, photographers and cameramen gathered outside the High Court that Mr Assange arrived in a white prison services armored truck to take place in a docking station flourished in Courtroom 4.

His incarceration has not stopped the movement of classified U.S. cable mainly between U.S. diplomats overseas and the State Department in Washington. Earlier, Wikileaks published material confidential America on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. The documents were made available to newspapers, including The New York Times.

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