British filmmaker Terry Gilliam, who has donated to multiple WikiLeaks campaigns, wrote in a Facebook post and a tweet on Tuesday:
"JULIAN ASSANGE HAS HAD A 3 YEAR STRETCH IN THE ECUADOR EMBASSY — ENOUGH!!
"We are taking his case to the European Court of Human Rights. It costs money. Please help."
Posted by Terry Gilliam on Tuesday, September 22, 2015
The messages each had links to an online fundraising account set up for the legal expenses of Assange and the WikiLeaks staff. As of Tuesday afternoon, the campaign had raised £33,155 (about $50,900).
June marked three years since Assange, who is Australian, first sought refuge to avoid traveling to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over allegations of sex assaults against two women. Assange denies the accusations.
— Terry Gilliam (@TerryGilliam) September 22, 2015
The WikiLeaks founder, now 44, also fears that if he leaves the embassy, he will be detained by authorities and extradited to the United States to face prosecution for publishing top-secret documents.
Earlier this month, the head of Assange's legal team, Baltasar Garzon, told Sputnik that Assange’s sex assault case will not go to court because no official charges have been filed
He added that they may appeal to the human rights court to have the case thrown out.
"We do not think that Assange's case will go to court as there are still no charges … We are raising the question of the necessity to transfer the case to the European Union’s court as we do not have the necessary access to the process," Garzon said.
Three of the four allegations against Assange expired in August due to the Swedish statute of limitations for bringing charges. A rape charge remains in effect until 2020.
