Espionage: Weather Assange was ever in US legally or otherwise he manipulated persons to do illegal crimes in exchange for ! In any case what did he achieve by his actions, other than to cause himself a life of mysery and becoming an outlaw hiding in the hills. He will be looking over the shoulder no matter where he is.

"They said he was not being prosecuted for publication of the leaked materials, but for aiding and conspiring with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning..."

This is well known to those who honestly look at the issue. I linked above to a post I made years ago that made the exact same point. But there is a class of partisan who want to deliberately mispresent the situation in order to delude low information people like Foxy.

This isn't a freedom of the press issue. It is an issue with regards to the rights of governments to keep sensitive information secret. Every government on the planet does it and every government on the planet jealously protects its right to keep those secrets.

Now whether the USA ought to have been keeping these particular documents secret is an entirely separate issue and not something that the likes of Assnage should arbitrate on.

"Let's assume he did all that - where was he at the time of committing the above?"

Where he physically was is immaterial. He, through his online presence, committed (allegedly) the crime in the US and is therefore liable. If a scammer in India steals from an 80 yr old in Australia, he has committed an offence in Australia and we would, if we could, seek to bring him here for prosecution. Equally, if a father legally takes his kids overseas but refuses to return them to his estranged wife, Australia would seek legal remedies against him even though all the offences occurred overseas. Basic international law.

"I watched the SBS documentary last night about Alexei Navalny. "

I saw an interesting juxtaposition of stories in the US press (WSJ I think) t'other day.

The first story was about the death of Navalny.

Immediately below it was the story of the $400 million fine against Trump.

Two differing ways the ruling elite seek to silence their political opponents, while still claiming to be democratic.

Hi Fester,

I'll repeat what I posted on page 2 of this discussion
just to jog your memory. I also gave a link.

NBC News reported that there was no collusion between
Bradley Manning and Julian Assange according to military
sources.

US investigators have been unable to find evidence directly
Assange and Bradley Manning.

Hi Fester,

Did you read the link I gave on page 4 from "Reporters
Without Borders?" It dispels many of the misconceptions
about Assange.

I think the broader consequence is the crime against the USA. Any named persons would have to fight for themselves.
That link that foxy shows is riddled with corrections.
Extradite to USA for processing, we just may find out items not yet known.