The UN's special rapporteur on torture
"I've worked in many areas of war in my life, in situations of violence, and I've talked to victims of persecution around the world and I've seen very serious atrocities," Mr Melzer told the BBC.
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption Nils Melzer, the UN's special rapporteur on torture, has warned that Assange is not fit to stand trial
"But [what] I have never seen is that a single person has been deliberately isolated and, I would say, persecuted - not prosecuted, but
persecuted - by several democratic states in a concerted effort to eventually break his will."
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"We could see that Assange showed all the symptoms that are typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture," he said.
Assange, he said, needs access to a psychiatrist who is "not part of the prison service - someone he can fully trust" - to avoid his health deteriorating further.