LONDON _ WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was called a threat to the people "who put their lives at risk to assist the U.S." on the first day of his extradition trial in London.
James Lewis, a lawyer for the U.S., told a London court that Assange's case has little to do with freedom of the press. Instead, he tried to narrow the focus of the U.S. charges down to the harm to secret agents caused by the WikiLeaks disclosures.
Assange faces a maximum prison term of 175 years in the U.S. for charges that he conspired to obtain and disclose classified documents passed to him by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. The documents, including 90,000 Afghanistan war-related activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related reports and 250,000 State Department cables, were published by WikiLeaks in 2010 and 2011.
"This is not a case involving any charges of publications of disclosure of war crimes or matters such as that," Lewis said. "It's limited solely to the disclosure of sources where there is obvious harm."
The month-long trial begins after Assange's lawyers alleged President Donald Trump instructed a former congressman to offer him a pardon if he "played ball" and denied Russia's involvement in Democratic National Committee leaks during the 2016 election. U.S. political motivations are set to play a prominent part in the case.
Hundreds of Assange's supporters chanted loudly outside the courtroom, leading the judge to send out a note telling them to stop interrupting the proceedings.
He's been in London's notorious Belmarsh prison since he was evicted in April from the Ecuadorian embassy where he had been given refuge for several years after skipping bail to avoid questioning in a Swedish sexual-assault case. That case was dropped in November after Swedish prosecutors said the allegations had been weakened as the memories of witnesses faded.
