This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An apparent criminal complaint against the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is the subject of a federal court hearing in Virginia on Tuesday.

Free-press advocates want a judge to unseal the complaint after prosecutors in an unrelated case inadvertently mentioned charges against Assange, it emerged last month.

A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday morning in Alexandria.

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Prosecutors oppose the motion. They argue the public has no right to know whether a person has been charged until there has been an arrest. The government also says the accidental reference to charges against Assange does not mean he has actually been charged.

The Associated Press and other news outlets have reported that Assange is indeed facing unspecified charges under seal.

The WikiLeaks founder, whose disclosure of secret documents has angered American authorities for the past eight years, has been criminally charged in secret by the US justice department, a court filing indicated last month.

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The court filing, submitted apparently in error by US prosecutors in an unrelated case, mentioned criminal charges against someone named “Assange” even though that was not the name of the defendant.

Assange, who has been holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London since seeking asylum in 2012, has long been under investigation by US law enforcement agencies for publishing classified diplomatic cables and other secret government records.

The 47-year-old Australian is also ensnared in the investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 US election, due to his website’s publication of tens of thousands of emails stolen by Russian hackers from Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and other Democrats.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that the US was making preparations to prosecute Assange and was confident of being able to detain him and make him stand trial.

The court filing, written by assistant US attorney Kellen Dwyer, did not specify the nature of any charges against Assange. It was submitted to the federal court in the eastern district of Virginia, which handles many cases involving national security.