WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange took part in an administrative hearing on Monday, where it was reaffirmed that his US extradition proceedings will resume in September.
Assange attended the short hearing via video link from Belmarsh prison, Britain’s Press Association (PA) news agency reported.
A month ago, the 48-year-old Australian national had been too ill to attend a similar administrative hearing.
Assange has already been charged with conspiring with former US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak a trove of classified material in 2010.
Recently, the US Justice Department announced it would add new charges alleging that Assange in 2009 tried to recruit hackers who could find classified information.
At the hearing on Monday, Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told the court the defence had been “kept in the dark” about the new charges, PA reported.
Prosecutor Joel Smith meanwhile said that the new indictment has yet to be served.
“What the US is doing is truly unprecedented. A new indictment is being introduced halfway into the extradition proceedings, which have been a year in the making,” WikiLeaks editor Kristinn Hrafnsson said in a statement.
Assange was arrested by British police in April 2019 at the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had taken refuge for seven years, for failing to surrender to an earlier warrant linked to Swedish charges that were eventually dropped.
The police swooped after Quito revoked Assange’s asylum status to end his seven-year refuge in the embassy.
Westminster Magistrates’ Court said the hearing on Assange’s extradition is scheduled to resume on September 7.
Judge Vanessa Baraitser said another case management hearing is planned on August 14.
