WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has made his first public statement since his release after striking a deal with the US, saying he is at large because he has pleaded “guilty to journalism.”
The 53-year-old journalist travelled to Strasbourg on Tuesday to appear before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe’s (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights to testify about his detention and conviction and their impact on human rights. Assange told lawmakers:
“I want to be totally clear: I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism.”
Assange also added:
“I pled guilty to seeking information from a source. I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source. And I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was. I’m not yet fully equipped to speak about what I have endured — the relentless struggle to stay alive, both physically and mentally.”
How Assange came into custody
Assange founded the WikiLeaks project with a group of like-minded individuals in 2006. In 2010, he published several tens of thousands of confidential documents that relate to the operations of the US and its allies in Afghanistan in 2004-2009.
The publication of telegrams of US diplomats, including secret ones, also caused a scandal. The US has launched an investigation against Assange on suspicion of violating the Espionage Act.
The WikiLeaks founder lived in the Ecuadorian embassy in London from 2012-2019. After the country revoked Assange’s right to political asylum, he was arrested by British police. The journalist was then placed in Belmarsh. A British court allowed him to be handed over to the US in April 2022, but the defence appealed. As a result, extradition was postponed in March 2024.
Authorities initially rejected his previous appeals on all counts, but in May, London’s High Court sided with Assange. His defence insisted that Julian, who was behind bars, had health problems: he suffered a microstroke in autumn 2021.
The lawyers promised to challenge the possible decision to extradite Julian Assange to the Americans in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, referring to the fact that extradition to the US in this case would be a violation of the right to freedom of speech and would mean punishment for political beliefs. However, he did not have to do so, and was released in June.
He made a deal with the US, which accused him of espionage. According to preliminary agreements, he pleaded guilty to one of 18 counts, and the court would credit him for the time he spent in a British prison. This was a prerequisite for representatives of the FBI and the US ministry of justice, and they opposed any deal in which Assange did not have to plead guilty.
