Days after Julian Assange turned 50 in prison, his longtime friend and supporter, Roger Waters, hailed him as a ‘knight in shining armor’ and attacked mainstream media for ignoring the campaign to free him. The WikiLeaks founder notched up his half century in a cell at London’s Belmarsh prison, despite not being charged with any offense. The US government is seeking to extradite him on espionage charges that could land him a 175-year jail term. Although an English judge ruled in January that he could not be extradited due to a suicide risk, Assange has not been granted bail. ‘I’ve sort-of run out of expletives for these a**holes who have imprisoned Julian Assange,’ the former Pink Floyd frontman told RT on Tuesday. ‘... Julian Assange is a publisher who has committed no crime… the powers that be have deaf ears to his predicament [and seem happy to keep him] under lock and key until he dies.’ Assange’s birthday saw protesters in the UK and US take to the streets – and a river – demanding his release. Demonstrators in London sailed a boat past the Houses of Parliament bearing a large banner that read ‘FREE ASSANGE.’ Waters said that the growing pro-Assange movement is being ignored by mainstream media. ‘Where are all the journalists who should be in the streets demonstrating?’ he asked. ‘Nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately, the mainstream media is cowed by the ruling class and the powers that be.’ ‘Julian Assange is our knight in shining armor,’ he later added. ‘This is the man who almost single-handedly has started the movement that might save the world. There should be statues being built to this man in Parliament Square.’ Follow us on Telegram https://t.me/rtintl / https://t.me/rtvisual ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRZXJau8QLk

On the sidelines of the Moscow Financial Forum, RT got the chance to speak with Dmitry Amelkin, transformation and strategy director of Russia's largest diamond mining company Alrosa, on the advantages of investing in the precious stones. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Freedom over censorship, truth over narrative. Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RTnews Follow us on Telegram: https://t.me/rtnews Follow us on X: https://twitter.com/RT_com