Federal prosecutors accidentally revealed Thursday night that the Justice Department has prepared an indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The indictment was revealed in an unrelated court filing in which the government was making a motion to seal a criminal case involving coercion and enticement of a minor in Virginia. It was unclear from the available information if charges have been filed against Assange.
“The court filing was made in error,” said Joshua Stueve, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia, according to the New York Times. “That was not the intended name for this filing.”
The filing was describing why it was necessary for the case to be sealed, and claimed that any “procedure short of sealing would not adequately protect the needs of law enforcement” and said that “no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged.”
“The complaint, supporting affidavit, and arrest warrant, as well as this motion and the proposed order, would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter,” the court filing said.
Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for years, and if he were to face charges in federal court, he would need to be arrested and extradited.
WikiLeaks published thousands of emails exchanged between Democrats during the 2016 presidential race that were stolen by Russian intelligence officers, and although the charges against Assange were not revealed, they could relate to the publication of information of public interest.
“The news that criminal charges have apparently been filed against Mr. Assange is even more troubling than the haphazard manner in which that information has been revealed,” Assange’s lawyer Barry Pollack said in an email to the Times. “The government bringing criminal charges against someone for publishing truthful information is a dangerous path for a democracy to take.”
