Spanish journalist arrested for trying to sell Assange embassy videos for $3.4M
A Spanish journalist and an unnamed computer programmer were arrested Wednesday for allegedly trying to make more $3.4 million by selling videos of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange during his time the Ecuador Embassy in London.
Jose Martin Santos, who was previously convicted for fraud in a separate case, was taken into custody in Alicante for allegedly being part of a network trying to bribe Wikileaks for millions in exchange for the private videos, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported.
The unnamed computer programmer was also arrested in Alicante, a port city about 260 miles southeast of Madrid.
According to the report, the two men plus one more unidentified person met with Wikileaks representative Kristinn Hrafnsson on April 2 and showed her 103 files containing private correspondence and audiovisual material obtained at the embassy.
They said the documents would make it to the press unless they were paid $3.4 million.
The meeting triggered a complaint filed by Assange at a Madrid court, accused Martin Santos of trying to blackmail Wikileaks as well as embassy personnel, El Pais reported.
Assange, 47, was forcibly removed last month from the Ecuadorian embassy in London after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nation’s foreign affairs to poor hygiene.
Days after his arrest, El Pais published footage showing Assange's bizarre behavior inside the embassy, including attempting to skateboard around the room to pass the time, and also shows him getting into an argument with a security guard who objected to a meeting he was trying to hold there. It's unclear if the footage in question overlapped.
The Australian secret-spiller had lived in the South American country’s embassy since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for question over rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women.
That extradition request is no longer active, but Swedish officials say the rape investigation may be revived now that Assange is no longer out of reach in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
On Wednesday, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago. A day later, during a London court appearance via video, he said he would fight extradition to the United States to face charges of conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer.
Assange has said he sought asylum in the embassy because he feared being sent to the U.S. to face charges related to WikiLeaks' publication of classified U.S. military documents.
U.S. authorities accuse Assange of scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break a password for a classified government computer.
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