Julian Assange was recently given the Sacco & Vanzetti Award. It is named after one of the most famous miscarriages of justice in US history, and is awarded by the Boston Community Church.
The Church presented its 2021 Sacco-Vanzetti Memorial Award for Social Justice to WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange last Wednesday. Accepting the award for the imprisoned Assange was his father and brother, John and Gabriel Shipton who are on a 17-city U.S. tour. Former Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was among the speakers.
Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were Italian immigrants and anarchists who were convicted in 1921 of murder during an armed robbery near Boston. Despite recanted testimony, conflicting ballistics evidence, a prejudicial pretrial statement by the jury foreman, and a confession by an alleged participant in the robbery appeals were denied by the trial judge and the Massachusetts Supreme Court.
Sacco and Vanzetti became a cause célèbres because of their apparent political conviction. Because of the worldwide outcry the Massachusetts governor set up a commission, which upheld the convictions. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed by electric chair on August 23, 1927.
Assange is facing political extradition proceeding for publishing information revealing U.S. war crimes. He remains in Belmarsh Prison in London as the U.S. appeals a judge’s decision not to extradite him on health grounds.