WGAD ruled earlier, in a non-legally binding majority decision, that Assange is being detained arbitrarily. London and Sweden vowed to dispute the UN-mandated panel’s ruling.
"The person who dissented with the opinion was Mr. [Vladimir] Tochilovsky, he is from Ukraine," WGAD Secretary Christophe Peschoux said at a briefing, noting that WGAD "usually" issues unanimous opinions.
One of the five-member working group experts, Leigh Toomey, recused himself from voting because he shares Assange’s Australian nationality.
Christophe Peschoux also stated that the decision of the WGAD on detention of Julian Assange is legally binding to some extent.
"The working group is issuing opinions, not rulings, it is not a court… The decision is legally binding to the extent that it is based on the international human rights norms tnat were ratified by governments. so it is legally binding, but not directly," Christophe Peschoux told reporters.
The Australian national, who has been living at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault claims, filed a complaint against London and Stockholm with WGAD in 2014.