Geneva to support humanitarian visa application for Assange

The deputy of the Greens at the Geneva Grand Council Jean Rossiaud is at the origin of the approach. Confirming information from German SRF television on Wednesday, he said he had met with Geneva State Councilor Mauro Poggia to submit his project to him. The magistrate supported him.

Mr. Rossiaud also tabled with the Geneva Grand Council a motion for a resolution, with other deputies, to invite the Geneva government to act with Bern. The text may be discussed at the next parliamentary session. “Everything will depend on whether the emergency is requested,” explained the elected official of the Greens.

Deteriorated health

Julian Assange’s father, John Shipton, also met with M.Poggia, accompanied by M.Rossiaud. The environmental deputy also met with the director of the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) to discuss the possibility of hospitalizing the founder of WikiLeaks, whose state of health has seriously deteriorated.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, has himself worried about Julian Assange, who has been held in confinement since April 2019 and who was allegedly drugged during his interrogations. The United States is demanding the extradition of Julian Assange and has laid 17 charges against him.

However, since Sweden has classified the investigations for sexual misconduct, even rape, targeting Julian Assange, no more burden weighs on him, underlined Mr. Rossiaud. “We cannot blame the founder of WikiLeaks for denouncing war crimes committed by the American army in Iraq in particular”.

If Julian Assange is extradited to the United States, he risks life imprisonment, or worse, the death penalty, said the deputy ecologist. Laurent Paoliello, the spokesperson for Mauro Poggia, however indicated that in this file the final decision belongs to the Confederation.

Request to London

According to the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), a humanitarian visa can be issued if “the life or physical integrity of a person is directly, seriously and concretely threatened in his country of origin or in the country of provenance “. The person must be in an emergency situation which makes intervention by the authorities “absolutely necessary and justifies the granting of a visa”.

But for a request to be considered, Julian Assange or his lawyer must submit a request to the Swiss Embassy in London.