WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Tuesday that he had been released after years in prison after “pleading guilty to journalism.”
In his first public remarks since being released in June, Mr Assange gave evidence on the impact of his detention and conviction before the Council of Europe's Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee in Strasbourg, France. did. The parliament includes members from 46 European countries.
Assange's treatment was a shameful stain on the First Amendment
A group of supporters holding banners reading “Thank you, Julian” greeted Assange as he stepped out of a van, smiling and pumping his fists in defiance, along with his wife Stella and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Christine Hrafnsson. .
“Assange is free! We are here. The world is with you,” one of his supporters shouted before Assange entered the Council of Europe building early Tuesday.
“Today we are not free because the system worked,” Assange said. “I pled guilty to journalism and was released today after many years in prison.”
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (centre), his wife Stella Assange (right), and WikiLeaks editor-in-chief raise their fists as they arrive at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, eastern France, on Tuesday, October 1, 2024. Kristin Hlavnson. . (AP Photo/Pascal Bastien)
He also “pleaded guilty to soliciting information from a source. Pleaded guilty to obtaining information from a source. And pled guilty to informing the public what that information was.'' ” he added.
Assange was released in June after serving five years in a British prison after pleading guilty to obtaining and disclosing U.S. military secrets, ending a long legal battle with prosecutors at the Department of Justice. Before going to prison, he applied for asylum on the grounds of political persecution and lived in self-imposed exile at the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years.
Mr Assange said the transition from years in a maximum security prison to addressing MEPs was a “deep and surreal change”, detailing his experience in solitary confinement.
“It strips away a person's sense of self and leaves only the raw essence of being,” he said, apologizing for the “clumsy language” and “unsophisticated presentation.”
“I am not yet ready to talk about what I have endured, the constant struggle to stay alive, both physically and mentally,” Assange said.
An Australian internet publisher has been accused of receiving and publishing hundreds of thousands of war records and diplomatic cables containing details of US military misconduct in Iraq and Afghanistan. His work was praised by press freedom advocates, who touted his role in bringing to light military actions that might otherwise have been covered up.
Among the files released by WikiLeaks was a video of a 2007 attack by U.S. Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.
Critics say his actions endangered U.S. national security and innocent lives, including those who provided intelligence to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and went far outside the scope of traditional journalism. It is claimed that
The years-long lawsuit ended with Assange's argument in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean.
Assange pleaded guilty to espionage charges for conspiring to illegally obtain and disseminate classified national defense information. The judge sentenced him to five years in prison, which he had already spent behind bars in Britain, pending extradition to the United States.
Mr Assange returned to Australia as a free man at the end of June. At the time, his wife Stella said he needed time to recover before speaking publicly.
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His appearance on Tuesday came after the Council of Europe parliament released a report into Assange's five-year detention in a maximum-security prison in Britain.
Parliament's human rights committee issued a draft resolution stating that Assange is a political prisoner and expressing deep concern over his harsh treatment.
