I wasn't speaking primarily about the charges held against him, but rather the OPs assertion that people consider him as either hero or villain, or in some case

I wasn't speaking primarily about the charges held against him, but rather the OPs assertion that people consider him as either hero or villain, or in some cases, something in the middle due to various faults they find with him. On the subject of the charges, since you brought it up: How can the US reasonably charge him with espionage? Has Assange ever even been to the US? If we can charge a foreign reporter with espionage for the mere publication of something we consider secret, and force their international extradition, how would we feel about a foreign government doing the same to one of our citizens? For instance, if Australia were to coerce the UK to arrest and extradite the publisher of the New York Times for prosecution under their laws for printing a story they didn't like for some reason.