WikiLeaks’ Assange charged, prosecutors reveal in filing goof

Bloomberg

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged by federal prosecutors in Virginia in a move that suggests the US government is determined to pursue his extradition, according to an inadvertent filing in an unrelated court case.
It’s unclear what Assange, who’s been living in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London since 2012, has been charged with. The existence of the charges was revealed in an August filing unsealed this month and confirmed by a person familiar with the matter. The document begins with arguments related to the correct case, then picks up abruptly on the second page, saying “no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged.”
Assistant US Attorney Kellen S. Dwyer continued on a third page, saying the matter “would need to remain sealed until
Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter.”
Assange, 47, has been under investigation ever since WikiLeaks published thousands of classified government documents, including diplomatic cables and military documents, starting in 2010. He’s also come under scrutiny by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller amid probes into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. In 2016, WikiLeaks published emails from the Democratic National Committee that had been hacked by Russian intelligence.
“WikiLeaks has never been contacted by anyone from his office,” the organisation said in a statement on Twitter, referring to the special counsel.
“The US is seeking to prosecute a foreign publisher for publishing truthful information,” Assange’s UK lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said.
“This sets a dangerous and chilling precedent for all media organisations — in the US and elsewhere. Serious questions must be asked of the British government: will it extradite a publisher to face prosecution in the US? What precedent will this set for other countries like Russia, China?”
The charges were mistakenly disclosed in a case against a man named Seitu Sulayman Kokayi, who is charged with coercing and enticing an underage person in an assault .
“The filing was made in error, and Assange’s name was not intended to be included,’’ said Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.