U.K. Court: Julian Assange Can’t Be Extradited on Espionage Charges Until U.S. Rules Out Death Penalty
英国法院：在美方排除死刑判决前，阿桑奇不能引渡至美国涉嫌间谍罪
A British court ruled Tuesday that Julian Assange can’t be extradited to the United States on espionage charges unless U.S. authorities guarantee he won’t get the death penalty, giving the WikiLeaks founder a partial victory in his long legal battle over the site’s publication of classified American documents.
英国法庭周二裁定，维基解密创始人阿桑奇( Julian Assange )不可能因涉嫌间谍罪被引渡到美国，除非美国当局保证不会对他执行死刑。这一裁决让这位网站创始人在其长期争取避免因发布美国机密文件而受审的法律斗争中取得部分胜利。
Two High Court judges said they would grant Assange a new appeal unless U.S. authorities give further assurances within three weeks about what will happen to him. The ruling means the legal saga, which has dragged on for more than a decade, will continue — and Assange will remain inside London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, where he has spent the last five years.
两位高等法院法官表示，如果美国方面在三周内未能进一步保证阿桑奇的命运，他们将批准对其案情的新上诉。这意味着这场持续超过十年的法律斗争还将继续，而阿桑奇将继续留在伦敦高度戒备的贝尔马什监狱，他已经在这里度过了过去五年。
Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson said the U.S. must guarantee that Assange, who is Australian, “is afforded the same First Amendment protections as a United States citizen, and that the death penalty is not imposed.”
维多利亚·夏普法官和杰里米·约翰逊法官表示，美国必须确保，作为澳大利亚公民的阿桑奇能够享有与美国公民相同的言论自由第一修正案保护，并且不会被判处死刑。
The judges said that if the U.S. files new assurances, “we will give the parties an opportunity to make further submissions before we make a final decision on the application for leave to appeal.” The judges said a hearing will be held May 20 if the U.S. makes those submissions.
法官们说，如果美国提出新的保证，“我们会在作出准许上诉申请的最终决定之前，给各方一个提交进一步意见的机会。”他们表示，如果美国提出这些意见，5月20日将会举行听证会。
Assange’s supporters say he is a journalist protected by the First Amendment who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan that was in the public interest. They have argued his prosecution is politically motivated and he can’t get a fair trial in the U.S.
阿桑奇的支持者认为，他是一名受到《第一修正案》保护的记者，揭露了美国在伊拉克和阿富汗的军事不当行为，这些行为符合公众利益。他们争辩说对他的起诉具有政治动机，并且他无法在美国获得公正审判。
Assange’s wife Stella Assange said the WikiLeaks founder “is being persecuted because he exposed the true cost of war in human lives.”
阿桑奇的妻子斯特拉·阿桑奇（Stella Assange）表示，维基解密创始人“是因为揭露了战争对人类生命的真正代价而受到迫害”。
“The Biden administration should not issue assurances. They should drop this shameful case, which should never have been brought,” she said outside the High Court in London.
她在伦敦高等法院外表示：“拜登政府本不应给出保证，而应彻底抛弃这个可耻的案件，压根就不该启动这个案子。”
The ruling follows a two-day hearing in the High Court in February, where Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said American authorities were seeking to punish him for WikiLeaks’ “exposure of criminality on the part of the U.S. government on an unprecedented scale,” including torture and killings.
这一裁决是2月在高等法院进行了为期两天的听证会后作出的，阿桑奇的律师爱德华·菲茨杰拉德在此期间表示，美国当局正在寻求惩罚阿桑奇，原因是他通过“维基解密”公布了美国政府前所未有的大规模犯罪行为，包括虐囚和杀戮。
The U.S. government said Assange’s actions went beyond journalism by soliciting, stealing and indiscriminately publishing classified government documents that endangered innocent lives.
美国政府称，阿桑奇的行为超越了新闻业的范畴，他主动寻求、窃取并无差别地公开机密政府文件，这些文件危及了无辜生命。
The judges rejected six of Assange’s nine grounds of appeal, including the allegation that his prosecution is political. They said that while Assange “acted out of political conviction … it does not follow however that the request for his extradition is made on account of his political views.”
法官们驳回了阿桑奇九项上诉中的六项，其中包括其关于检控出于政治动机的指控。他们表示，尽管“阿桑奇是出于政治信念而行动”，但这并不意味着引渡请求是因为他的政治观点。
They accepted three grounds or appeal: the threat to Assange’s freedom of speech, Assange’s claim that he faces disadvantage because he is not a U.S. citizen, and the risk he could receive the death penalty.
他们接受了申诉的三个理由：对阿桑奇言论自由的威胁、他作为非美国公民所面临的不利处境，以及他可能被判处死刑的风险。
U.S. authorities have promised Assange would not receive capital punishment, but the judges said that “nothing in the existing assurance explicitly prevents the imposition of the death penalty.”
美国官方已承诺不会对阿桑奇执行死刑，但法官们表示，“现有保证书中并无明确禁止处以死刑的内容”。
Assange, 52, an Australian computer expert, has been indicted in the U.S. on charges over Wikileaks’ publication in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of classified documents.
现年52岁的澳大利亚电脑专家阿桑奇被美国以2010年通过“维基解密”公布数十万份机密文件的罪名起诉。
U.S. prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
美国检察官指控他与美国陆军情报分析员切尔西·曼宁共谋，侵入五角大楼电脑，泄露了有关伊拉克和阿富汗战争的机密外交电文和军事文件。
Assange faces 17 espionage counts and one charge of computer misuse. If convicted, his lawyers say he could receive a prison term of up to 175 years, though American authorities have said any sentence is likely to be much lower.
阿桑奇面临17项间谍罪和一项电脑滥用指控。他的律师表示，如果定罪，他可能面临最高175年的监禁，但美国当局表示，任何判决都可能会轻得多。
Assange’s wife and supporters say his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, including seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the last five years in prison.
阿桑奇的妻子和支持者表示，他在长达十多年、包括在伦敦厄瓜多尔大使馆自囚七年以及过去的五年监狱生活中，身心健康都受到了极大的损害。
Assange’s legal troubles began in 2010, when he was arrested in London at the request of Sweden, which wanted to question him about allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two women. In 2012, Assange jumped bail and sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy.
阿桑奇的法律困境始于2010年，当时他在伦敦应瑞典警方要求被捕，后者希望就两名女性指控他强奸和性侵犯的问题对他进行讯问。2012年，阿桑奇跳保并寻求进入厄瓜多尔大使馆避难。
The relationship between Assange and his hosts eventually soured, and he was evicted from the embassy in April 2019. British police immediately arrested and imprisoned him for breaching bail in 2012. Sweden dropped the sex crimes investigations in November 2019 because so much time had elapsed.
阿桑奇与东道国的关系最终恶化，2019年4月他被从使馆驱逐出去。英国警方随即以2012年违反保释规定为由逮捕并关押了他。由于过去了太久时间，瑞典检方在2019年11月撤销了对他的性犯罪调查。
A U.K. district court judge rejected the U.S. extradition request in 2021 on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. Higher courts overturned that decision after getting assurances from the U.S. about his treatment. The British government signed an extradition order in June 2022.
英国地区法院法官在2021年拒绝了美国引渡阿桑奇的请求，理由是如果他被关押在美国严苛的监狱条件下，阿桑奇可能会自杀。在获得美国关于其待遇的保证后，高等法院推翻了这一决定。英国政府于2022年6月签署了引渡令。
