A British judge has threatened WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that the hearing will continue without him if he continues to speak from the dock and interrupt witnesses.
Vanessa Baraitser briefly suspended the hearing at London's Central Criminal Court after Assange interrupted witness Clive Stafford Smith, who was at the time giving evidence in the case.
Julian Assange is trying to fight off US prosecutors who want to extradite him to the US by trying him on espionage charges. Assange's indictment includes charges of espionage, data, computer hacking and the publication of US military documents by WikiLeaks a decade ago. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Assange's lawyers say his prosecution is a politically motivated abuse of power that will stifle media freedom and endanger journalists around the world.
Addressing Assange, the judge said: "You will hear things, no doubt many things, that you disagree with during these proceedings.".
"If you interrupt the hearing again, I have the option to continue the trial without you," he added.
On Monday, when the hearing began, Baraitser rejected requests from Assange's lawyers to delay his extradition hearing until next year so they could have more time to respond to US allegations that he conspired with other hacking groups.
The case has already been delayed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The indictment includes allegations that Assange recruited notorious hacking groups, including Anonymous and LuluSec, and that he helped Edward Snowden, who leaked information from the National Security Agency (NSA).
They claim that by releasing secret documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Assange created the risk of "innocent people" suffering serious physical harm or being unlawfully imprisoned.
