Source:
The Raw StoryUS inching closer to conspiracy or espionage indictmentJulian Assange, founder of secrets outlet WikiLeaks, insisted during a Friday morning interview that he's never met or even spoken to Pvt. Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of sending his site troves of secret files.
This comes as lawyers presented the House Judiciary Committee with evidence Thursday that could lead to charges against Assange.
Paul Rosenzweig, a former deputy assistant secretary for policy at the Department of Homeland Security, told the British newspaper Guardian that there was an 80 percent chance that Assange would be indicted.Constitutional law expert Floyd Abrams put those chances at better than 50 percent. Abrams is known for defending The New York Times before the Supreme Court after the publication of the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s.
According to Assange attorney Mark Stephens, a secret grand jury is already meeting in Alexandra, Virginia to consider criminal charges.
"We have heard from Swedish authorities there has been a secretly empaneled grand jury in Alexandria," Stephens told Al-Jazeera Sunday. "They are currently investigating this."
A spokesman for the Justice Department decline comment to Guardian.
Abrams noted that the Obama administration, like the Bush administration, may prefer impaneling a grand jury in Alexandria for hard cases like this one against Assange. "DC is the most natural place, but is likely to be more pro-defendant; Virginia courts are more amenable to the prosecution," Abrams said.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that US prosecutors are trying to determine if Assange conspired with Manning by giving him the software necessary to steal documents.
more:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/closer-indicting-assange-conspiracy/
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