Asyle for Julian Assange
Sign Appeal Now

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Federal Council

Julian Assange was arrested at the request of the USA for revelations of war crimes committed by the USA in 2010.

He was dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy by British police after Ecuador withdrew his asylum in violation of the Geneva Refugee Convention.

In the USA, Assange faces a trial in the Eastern District Court of Virginia under Judge Leonie Brinkema, where "a fair trial is absolutely impossible" (John Kiriakou, ex-CIA). Assange is also threatened with torture and possibly even the death penalty.

With an extradition to the USA, Great Britain would violate the most elementary internationally recognized fundamental rights (prohibition of torture, fair trial, Art. 3 and 6 ECHR) and mandatory international law (non-refoulement of the Geneva Refugee Convention).

The UN Special Rapporteur, Nils Melzer, speaks of a "great risk" of an unfair trial. He also notes "that the USA has not proved to be a safe country for torture in the last two decades".

Julian Assange is an investigative journalist. He has brought war crimes of the USA to light in Afghanistan and Iraq. His arrest not only violates the freedom of the press, but also represents the de facto reintroduction of censorship in the face of imminent sanctions, torture and the death penalty.

This is the end of a living democracy and of the freedom of which the West was rightly proud as one of its most vital achievements to date.

We therefore call on lawyers, jurists, Swiss citizens and co-signatories to the Federal Council to grant Julian Assange asylum in Switzerland,

  • because Julian Assange is being persecuted by the U.S. just because he was a journalist who uncovered war crimes,
  • because Wikileaks had reported the truth in 100% of their reports,
  • because Julian Assange and Wikileaks only defend the basic values of our Swiss Constitution of 1848, freedom of the press, freedom of speech and expression and democracy, and
  • because without justice there is only arbitrariness and violence.

Marcel Bosonnet, Philip Stolkin, Bernard Rambert, Andreas Noll

Erstunterzeichner
Amr Abdelaziz
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Prof. Dr. iur. Peter Aebersold
Basel
Johanna Altherr
Künstlerin, Zürich
Katharina Baviera
Hauswirtschaftslehrerin, Schaffhausen
Sibylle Berg
Schriftstellerin und Dramatikerin
Stephan Bernard
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Matthias Bertschinger
Jurist, Nunningen
Dr. iur. Severin Bischof
Rechtsanwalt, St. Gallen
Marcel Bosonnet
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Henry Both
Sozialarbeiter, Bern
Matthias Brunner
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Gian Andrea Danuser
Rechtsanwalt Zürich
Fanny de Weck
Rechtsanwältin, Zürich
Prof. Jacques Dubochet
Nobelpreisträger
Mona Eicke
Noëmi Erig
Rechtsanwältin, Zürich
Dr. iur. Babak Fargahi
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Peter Frei
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Juana Garcia Penades
Dr. iur. Diego Gfeller
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Viktor Györffy
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Pierre Heusser
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Ingrid Indermaur
Rechtsanwältin, Zürich
Markus John
Ethnologe
Patrick Karasch
Ökonom, Zürich
René Lechleiter
Architekt
Kurt Mäder
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Christian Meier
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Christof Meier
Beda Meyer Löhrer
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Dr. iur. Stephanie Motz
Rechtsanwältin, Zürich
Gregor Münch
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Dr. iur., Dr. h.c. Giusep Nay
A. Bundesgerichtspräsident, Valbella
Prof. Dr. iur. Marcel Niggli
Freiburg
Dr. iur. Andreas Noll
Rechtsanwalt, Basel
Gianandrea Prader
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Bernard Rambert
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Dimitri Rougy
Interlaken
Martin Ruppert
Betriebsökonom HWV/FH, Basel
Nathalie Schriber Rambert
Pychotherapeutin, Zürich
Eva Schürmann
Rechtsanwältin, Basel
Carlo Sommaruga
Rechtsanwalt, Nationalrat, Genf
Philip Stolkin
Rechtsanwalt, Zürich
Daniel Strassberg
Dr. med., Dr phil., Zürich
Brigitt Thambiah
Juristin, Zürich
Dr. iur. Christian von Wartburg
Rechtsanwalt, Grossrat BS, Basel
Magda Zihlmann
Rechtsanwältin, Zürich