Julian Assange’s First Public Address Since Release From Prison
Topline
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said he was forced to choose freedom over justice, in his first public remarks since agreeing to a plea deal with the U.S. to end his nearly decade-long legal battle to avoid extradition to the country after he published classified military documents.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks at the Autumn Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the … [+]
Key Facts
Assange on Tuesday told European lawmakers Tuesday: “I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today [after] years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism… I pled guilty to informing the public.”
The Wikileaks founder was addressing the human rights committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, saying he agreed to a plea deal as he “eventually chose freedom over an unrealizable justice” and that laws that should have protected him “only existed on paper” and were not effective in any “remotely reasonable time.”
Assange said his plea agreement with the U.S. government prevents him from filing a case at the European Court of Human Rights or making a “Freedom of Information Act request” on the impact of the extradition request against him.
The Wikileaks founder said he hopes his testimony can “serve to highlight the weaknesses of the existing safeguards, and to help those whose cases are less visible.”
Assange’s address also raised alarm about the state of press freedom around the world, saying: “I see more impunity, more secrecy, more retaliation for telling the truth and more self-censorship.”
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Crucial Quote
“It is hard not to draw a line from the US government’s prosecution of me, it’s crossing the Rubicon by internationally criminalizing journalism to the chilled climate for freedom of expression that exists now,” Assange said.
Key Background
Assange faced multiple charges in the U.S. since May 2019, linked to his website’s release of confidential U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables. While attempting to extradite him from the U.K., American authorities alleged Assange breached espionage laws by helping former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning crack a U.S. Department of Defense computer in 2010. Assange, however, has argued that he was being targeted for Wikileaks’ disclosure of war crimes and human rights abuses by the U.S. government. After a prolonged legal battle, Assange agreed to a plea deal with the U.S. government in June this year to secure his freedom. He appeared before a U.S. federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands—a U.S. territory located in the Western Pacific—and pled guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose information related to national defense. He was sentenced to 62 months in prison—which was covered by his incarceration at London’s high-security Belmarsh prison while awaiting trial.
Tangent
Assange attacked both the Obama administration and the Trump administration for their efforts to target him. He criticized the 2010 arrest of one of Wikileaks’ whistleblowers, U.S. Army soldier Chelsea Manning, and alleged the U.S. government bribed one of his informers to “steal our legal and journalistic work product.” Assange said this “harassment” of him and his colleagues was groundless, as “ President Obama’s justice department chose not to indict me, recognizing that no crime had been committed.” Addressing Trump’s term, Assange called two of his appointees, former CIA Director Mike Pompeo and former U.S. Attorney General William Barr, as “two wolves in MAGA hats.” Assange accused Pompeo of launching a “campaign of retribution” and drawing up plans to assassinate him after Wikileaks “exposed the CIA’s infiltration of French political parties” in 2017.
Further Reading
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Reaches Plea Deal With U.S. Government—Set To Be Freed From Prison (Forbes)
Julian Assange Pleads Guilty To Espionage Act Violation—Effectively Ending Decade-Plus Legal Saga (Forbes)
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