German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has spoken out against the extradition of Julian Assange to the US.
"I think it would be good if the British courts were to grant him the necessary protection, because he must expect persecution in the United States, given the fact that he has betrayed US state secrets," Scholz said on Monday during a question-and-answer session at a vocational school centre in southern Germany.
He said he assumed that the chances of this happening had increased because representatives of the United States had been "unable to assure the British judges in the last hearing that the possible punishment would be within a justifiable framework from the UK's point of view," said Scholz.
The US government wants to put the Australian on trial in the US on espionage charges. He faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted.
Washington accuses Assange of stealing and publishing secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with the whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who at the time was known as Bradley Manning, thereby jeopardizing the lives of US informants.
Assange, on the other hand, is facing prosecution for his journalistic activities and is legally defending himself in the UK against his extradition to the US.