Julian Assange "acquired" a new indictment from the United States that contains 18 charges and replaces all previous ones that were valid during the his arrest in Aprilwhen the founder of WikiLeaks was removed from Ecuador's embassy in London.
The United States claims that Assange conspired, assisted and collaborated with Chelsea Manning for the theft of US classified documents.
He also claims that Assange published in WikiLeaks sources of names in Iraq and Afghanistan, which provided information to US opponents.
"These human resources included Afghans and Iraqis, journalists, religious leaders, human rights activists and political opponents of oppressive regimes," said one source. announcement of the US Department of Justice (DOJ).
"According to the indictment, Assange's actions had the effect of seriously harming the national security of the United States to the benefit of our adversaries and putting human resources at serious and immediate risk of serious bodily harm and / or arbitrary detention."
"Assange is accused of complicity in the illegal acquisition or acquisition of vast databases of classified information and of conspiracy to attempt to obtain classified information through hacking," said U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger.
"The United States does not accuse Assange of passively receiving or receiving classified information."
"The United States, on the other hand, only accuses Assange of publishing certain classified documents, in which he allegedly published the names of innocent people who risked their safety and freedom to provide information to the United States and its allies."
The indictment reports the classified information released via Manning and allegedly contained 90.000 reports on the war in Afghanistan, 400.000 reports on the war in Iraq, 800 information on detainees at Guantanamo Bay and 250.000 from the US Department of State.
Assange faces the maximum prison sentence of 10 years for each of 18 categories if found guilty, except for computer penetration classes penalized with five years.
The American Civil Liberties Union said the accusations against Assange were a "direct attack on the First Amendment."
"These allegations are an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration's attacks on journalism, setting a dangerous precedent that can be used to target all news organizations."
"The allegations against Assange are just as dangerous for US journalists who reveal secrets of other nations. "If the United States can accuse and prosecute a foreign publisher for violating privacy laws, nothing can stop China or Russia from doing the same."
Assange is currently sentenced to 50 weeks imprisonment in the United Kingdom for violating the warranty.
Last week, Manning was jailed again because he refused to testify to a committee that was investigating WikiLeaks, but was soon released.
