>The key witness against Assange is a convicted pedophile and sociopath who was being paid by the US government.
That's not all that unusual. In many cases, folks are brought to trial and convicted on the testimony of unsavory characters.
An excellent example of this is the conviction of John Gotti[0], who was convicted of (among other things) the murder of Paul Castellano[1].
The evidence against Gotti was largely based on information provided by Sammy "The Bull" Gravano[2].
All three of those guys are/were thoroughly disreputable people and stone killers. Gravano, despite his long and violent criminal career, was given a very short prison sentence and was then placed into the US' Witness Protection Program[3], giving him protection and financial support from the US Government.
Despite this, Gravano continued to be the gangster he always was and was convicted of additional crimes and sentenced to prison again (20 years in New York and 19 years on Arizona, served concurrently).
Just because someone is a scumbag, doesn't mean they can't play a part in prosecutions.
There are many other examples of this sort of thing as well.
>He has since admitted that his testimony was false.
Assuming that can be verified, it's a great point in Assange's defense. Which, I'm sure, won't be lost on his lawyers.
That's not all that unusual. In many cases, folks are brought to trial and convicted on the testimony of unsavory characters.
An excellent example of this is the conviction of John Gotti[0], who was convicted of (among other things) the murder of Paul Castellano[1].
The evidence against Gotti was largely based on information provided by Sammy "The Bull" Gravano[2].
All three of those guys are/were thoroughly disreputable people and stone killers. Gravano, despite his long and violent criminal career, was given a very short prison sentence and was then placed into the US' Witness Protection Program[3], giving him protection and financial support from the US Government.
Despite this, Gravano continued to be the gangster he always was and was convicted of additional crimes and sentenced to prison again (20 years in New York and 19 years on Arizona, served concurrently).
Just because someone is a scumbag, doesn't mean they can't play a part in prosecutions.
There are many other examples of this sort of thing as well.
>He has since admitted that his testimony was false.
Assuming that can be verified, it's a great point in Assange's defense. Which, I'm sure, won't be lost on his lawyers.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gotti
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Castellano
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sammy_Gravano
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Federal_Witness_...