Assange's extradition fight touches 1m pounds mark for British taxpayers

London, Aug 18 (ANI): The farce over WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has cost British taxpayers nearly one million pounds, it has emerged.

The staggering total is made up of legal, policing and court costs run up over two years as Assange fought to avoid extradition to Sweden.

Assange took his case all the way to the British Supreme Court in an effort to dodge justice, but it ruled he could be extradited.

He entered the Ecuador embassy while out on bail and the total cost of his case is expected to hit millions after it was announced he would now take it to the International Court of Justice in the Hague, the Daily Mail reports.

Yesterday the extensive security operation remained outside the embassy in Knightsbridge where Assange is holed up since last two months.

According to the report, some 50 police officers are involved at any one time and it is thought to be costing around 50,000 pounds a day.

The saga began in late 2010 when Sweden issued a demand for Assange to face questioning over allegations of rape and sexual assault made by two WikiLeaks supporters, which he denies.

Since then he has spent more than a full working week in court fighting against extradition. Every minute of a high-profile court case costs 100 pounds in general courtroom costs, the paper said.

According to the paper, the Crown Prosecution Service said it had spent 61,269 pounds on external lawyers but its full bill, including the costs of its own lawyers and administration, will be much higher. (ANI)

null