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Julian Assange supporters ordered to forfeit £93,500 bail money
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/oct/08/julian-assange-supporters-ordered-forfeit-bail?newsfeed=truePayments must be made within a month by nine friends and backers who originally promised to pay £140,000
Julian Assange's supporters have been ordered to forfeit £93,500 in bail money after the WikiLeaks founder sought political asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
A court ruled on Monday that the payments must be made within a month by nine friends and backers who in 2010 pledged £140,000 to guarantee Assange would abide by bail conditions during a failed legal challenge to extradition proceedings brought by authorities in Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault.
Vaughan Smith, the former British army captain who hosted Assange at his Norfolk home while he was on bail throughout 2011, and had promised to pay £20,000 if Assange skipped bail, was ordered to pay £12,000, while Philip Knightly, a veteran Australian investigative journalist who exposed the British traitor Kim Philby as a Russian spy, was ordered to pay £15,000, £5,000 less than he originally pledged.
Making the ruling at Westminster magistrates court, the chief magistrate, Howard Riddle, said he accepted that the sureties "acted in good faith", but said the system of sureties for defendants who want to remain at liberty would be undermined if cash was not forfeited.
Julian Assange's supporters have been ordered to forfeit £93,500 in bail money after the WikiLeaks founder sought political asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
A court ruled on Monday that the payments must be made within a month by nine friends and backers who in 2010 pledged £140,000 to guarantee Assange would abide by bail conditions during a failed legal challenge to extradition proceedings brought by authorities in Sweden, where he faces allegations of rape and sexual assault.
Vaughan Smith, the former British army captain who hosted Assange at his Norfolk home while he was on bail throughout 2011, and had promised to pay £20,000 if Assange skipped bail, was ordered to pay £12,000, while Philip Knightly, a veteran Australian investigative journalist who exposed the British traitor Kim Philby as a Russian spy, was ordered to pay £15,000, £5,000 less than he originally pledged.
Making the ruling at Westminster magistrates court, the chief magistrate, Howard Riddle, said he accepted that the sureties "acted in good faith", but said the system of sureties for defendants who want to remain at liberty would be undermined if cash was not forfeited.
Sid
