Tech entrepreneur and activist Kim Dotcom took to Twitter on day one of the extradition hearing of journalist and WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, launching a scathing attack on both the US prosecutors and the mainstream media.
Dotcom, aka Kim Schmitz, has long advocated for freedom of the press and criticized government overreach in the digital age. He has also frequently been a vocal champion of Assange and the WikiLeaks cause.
Also on rt.com Assange’s US extradition hearing begins: What’s it all about and how did we get here?In his latest Twitter broadside, Dotcom blasted Assange's courtroom opponents, the US prosecutors, as “arrogant, unreliable… and totally unethical.”
He also took aim at the mainstream media and its dearth of coverage of the case, going one step further by accusing them of complicity in governmental persecution of the press.
“The TRUTH and press freedom are on trial today. I just checked the BBC news app and guess what, no mention about the extradition hearing of Julian Assange. The mainstream media is no longer challenging or investigating wrongdoing by the govt. They are now an accomplice of govt,” he said.
The extradition hearing began in Woolwich Crown Court with Judge Vanessa Baraitser who will decide whether the US request for extradition is legitimate under the terms of a 2003 treaty between the two Western allies.
Also on rt.com ‘Deep state controls social media to control you’: Kim Dotcom slams Twitter for 'shadowbanning' pro-Assange tweetsAssange's legal team maintains that the terms of this very treaty should preclude his extradition to the US where he faces charges of conspiracy with a potential life sentence if convicted.
Like Assange’s legal team, Dotcom maintains that this is a political case which criminalizes the legitimate work of journalists the world over. The hearings are due to be postponed again until May 18.
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