Οι δικηγόροι του ιδρυτή του WikiLeaks Julian Assange μήνυσαν την Κεντρική Υπηρεσία Πληροφοριών (CIA) των ΗΠΑ και τον πρώην διευθυντή της Mike Pompeo on Monday, claiming they were monitoring their conversations and copying data from their phones and computers.
The lawyers, along with two journalists who also joined the suit, are Americans and claim the CIA violated US constitutional protections for confidential discussions in the case of Julian Assange, who is Australian.
According to the lawsuit, the CIA worked with a security firm contracted by the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Assange was then living, to spy on the Wikileaks founder, his lawyers, journalists and, in general, everyone he met.
Assange is facing extradition from Britain to the US, where he is accused of publishing US military and diplomatic records in 2010 about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Robert Boyle, a New York lawyer representing the plaintiffs in the suit, said the alleged spying by Assange's lawyers means the Wikileaks founder's right to a fair trial "has now been tarnished, if not destroyed."
"The recording of meetings with friends, with lawyers and copying the digital information of his lawyers and friends taints the prosecution because now the government knows the content of those communications," Boyle told reporters.
"There should be sanctions, even to the point of dropping the charges or withdrawing the extradition request in response to these blatantly unconstitutional activities," he said.
The lawsuit was filed by attorneys Margaret Ratner Kunstler and Deborah Hrbek and reporters Charles Glass and John Goetz.
They all visited Assange when he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London under political asylum.
The lawsuit names the CIA, former CIA Director and former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, security firm Undercover Global and its CEO David Morales Guillen.
He said that Undercover Global, which had a security contract with the embassy, was scanning their electronic devices, and all of Assange's communications, for information and making it available to the CIA.
In addition, he placed microphones around the embassy and sent recordings, as well as security camera footage, to the CIA.
