‘Assange helped Victoria Police with Internet child pornography probe

MELBOURNE - The lawyer representing Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has claimed that the Australian-born journalist had helped Victoria Police with an Internet child pornography investigation in the 1990s.

“In 1993, when Assange was in his early 20s, he provided assistance to investigators from the Victoria Police Child Exploitation Unit,” news.com.au quoted his lawyer Grace Morgan as saying at a County Court hearing over the suppression order in Melbourne yesterday.

“My client assisted in relation to two investigations. His role was limited to providing technical advice and support, to assist in the prosecution of persons suspected of publishing and distributing child pornography on the internet,” he added.

Morgan also said that although Assange did not gain anything personally, he was “pleased to be in a position to assist.”

News of the 1993 investigation in Australia comes as a British judge postponed his decision on extraditing Assange to Sweden to face questioning over sexual assault claims.

Judge Howard Riddle ordered Assange to return to the Belmarsh Magistrates’ Court in southeast London on February 24 after hearing closing arguments from Swedish prosecutors and Assange’s defence team, the report said. (ANI)