One can debate whether Assange's leaks are criminal or not. It probably will be debated in court. But when on top of being dragged before a judge he is called narcissist, this is not even debatable, since everyone is someone else's narcissist.
It's a charge judges should stay clear from. It's the kind of things by which shrinks poison wells and shorten innocent people's freedoms.
Here are some journalists mourning for Assange being punished for journalism, starting with Lisa Haven:
RIP Press—Julian Assange Shouts Cryptic Message To Trump Upon His Arrest
Lisa Haven | 11.IV.2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXvc1T1aVMY
She cites Snowden, she cites Glenn Greenwald.
But, more than that, she cites an article in which a judge is said to have told Assange to get on with his life:
A British judge on Thursday branded him a 'narcissist' and his defense - that he skipped bail because he would not face a fair trial, 'laughable' and told him 'get over to the US' and 'get on with your life';
mailOnline : Julian Assange faces up to 12 months in UK jail as judge finds him guilty of skipping bail and brands him a 'narcissist' hours after Wikileaks founder was dragged out of Ecuadorian embassy - as U.S. charges him with hacking 750,000 classified documents*
Thursday, Apr 11th 2019
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6911977/U-S-indicts-Julian-Assange-charges-hacking-hundreds-thousands-classified-documents.html
More, some guys pretend this arrest shows Assange is no hero.
British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said following the arrest: 'What we have shown today is that nobody is above the law - Julian Assange is no hero.
'He's hidden from the truth for years and years and it's right that his future should be decided in the British judicial system.'
He added: 'What has happened today is the result of years of careful diplomacy by the Foreign Office.'
Mr Hunt added: '[It's] a very courageous decision by President Moreno in Ecuador to resolve this situation that's been going on for nearly seven years.
'It's not so much that Julian Assange was being held hostage in the Ecuadorian Embassy, it was actually Julian Assange holding the Ecuadorian Embassy hostage. It was a situation that was absolutely intolerable to them.'
I have so far not heard that from Ecuadorian sources.** It is possible, they were being put under too much pressure - and not by Julian.
But the arrest is not showing him "no hero" and judges, while supposed to care about the truth are not automatically giving it. One cannot pretend fleeing from judges is the same as hiding from the truth, precisely as a non-debatable and non-objective charge like narcissist is no good news for people facing judges.
Or for public freedoms in general.
Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris I
St. Zenon of Verona
12.IV.2019
Veronae passio sancti Zenonis Episcopi, qui inter persecutionis procellas eam Ecclesiam mira constantia gubernavit, et, Gallieni tempore, martyrio coronatus est.
* I modified the link by adding explicative text or title after signing./HGL
** Indeed, this news seems to tell the opposite:
mail : Newly published files confirm plan to move Assange to Russia
https://www.mail.com/int/news/uk/8798842-newly-published-files-confirm-plan-to-move-assange.html
However, here is an update:
mail : Exasperated Ecuador ends asylum for world's worst houseguest
https://www.mail.com/int/news/world/9111790-exasperated-ecuador-ends-asylum-worlds-worst-house.html
It is noted that both Lenín Boltaire Moreno Garcés who ended the asylum and his predecessor Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado who extended it are or recently were of the party Alianza PAIS (Patria Altiva i Soberana). Both are from middle class families, but it seems Rafael Correa is from a somewhat more Catholic background, went to "Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, the University of Louvain (UCLouvain), and the University of Illinois, where he received his PhD," while Lenín Moreno studied psychology at universities without such Catholic sounding names (except the last one). Also his parents admired Lenin and Voltaire, as apparent from his given names.
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