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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (R) and his wife Stella Assange (L) attend a hearing at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, 01 October 2024. EFE/EPA/CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON
Assange: ‘I am free because I pleaded guilty to journalism’
1 October 2024FacebookXLinkedInWhatsAppShare
Strasbourg, France, Oct 1 (EFE).- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Tuesday his freedom was due to pleading guilty to journalism, not the justice system working in his favor.
“I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pleaded guilty to journalism,” Assange told the Council of Europe rights body at its Strasbourg headquarters in his first public comments since his release.
“I eventually chose freedom over unrealisable justice… justice for me is now precluded,” said Assange, noting he had been facing a 175-year jail sentence.
Assange broke his silence after being released from the maximum-security Belmarsh Prison in the United Kingdom in June.
He had been deprived of liberty from 2012 to 2024, first while living in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then in prison.
Assange’s release followed an agreement with the US Department of Justice, in which he pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act. He was sentenced to 62 months in prison, a sentence quashed by the time already served at Belmarsh.
Assange, who described himself as “a political prisoner,” said the US had charged him with 18 counts of espionage and computer intrusion.
He described the transition from years of confinement in a maximum security prison to addressing the European parliamentarians as a “profound and a surreal shift.”
He detailed the experience of years of isolation in a small cell, apologizing for his “faltering words” and “unpolished presentation” due to the ordeal he endured.
He also revealed that as part of his agreement with the US justice system, he is prohibited from suing the country over his extradition or requesting information on the proceedings. He added that the CIA has gone “unpunished” in the eyes of US judges.
Assange rose to global prominence in 2010 after leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents, which exposed secrets about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He emphasized that “journalists must be activists for the truth.”
Now, his main focus is on readjusting to life in freedom: “My return to the world includes positive things but also complications, like being a father again to a son who grew up without me, and being a husband again.”
Assange’s hour-and-a-half-long speech at the Council of Europe marked his return to public life.
“He is still suffering from the harsh conditions he endured,” said his wife, Stella Assange, who accompanied him, declining to comment on whether he plans to release new reports.
The Council of Europe is set to vote on Wednesday on a draft resolution that could deem Assange a “political prisoner.” This vote, he said, was one of the reasons behind his acceptance of the council’s “exceptional” invitation.
The text of the resolution, authored by Icelandic journalist Thórhildur Sunna Aevarsdóttir, warns of the “chilling effect” Assange’s arrest may have had on the journalistic profession. EFE
