Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing media group WikiLeaks, told European lawmakers on Tuesday that he is guilty of U.S. espionage charges because legal and political efforts were not sufficient to protect his freedom. He said he needed an answer.
“In the end, I chose freedom over an impossible justice,” Assange said in his first public appearance since his release.
Mr Assange, 53, returned to his native Australia in June after pleading guilty to breaking the US Espionage Act and reaching a release agreement, ending a 14-year legal battle with Britain.
“After years of imprisonment, I was released today because I pled guilty to journalism, pled guilty to soliciting information from a source, pled guilty to obtaining information from a source, and pled guilty to public He added that he had pleaded guilty to inform the public.
Assange was speaking before the Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, the international body best known for its human rights treaties.
A report by the Parliament of the Council of Europe concluded that Assange was a political prisoner and called on Britain to investigate whether he had been subjected to inhumane treatment.
Mr. Assange, wearing a black suit and burgundy tie with a wispy white beard, sat between his wife Stella and WikiLeaks editor Kristin Hrafnsson and read his first remarks from the paper.
“I'm not quite ready to talk about what I've endured yet,” he said, adding: “I'm still trying to soften the blow of isolation.”
His wife, whom he married while in a London prison, said last month that it would take time for him to regain his health and sanity after his long incarceration and be with his two children, whom he has never met outside of prison. Ta.
WikiLeaks' most controversial leaks feature classified US military documents and videos from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the early-to-mid 2000s, including mistreatment of prisoners of war in US custody, human rights violations, The incident is said to have highlighted issues such as the deaths of civilians.
U.S. officials said the leak was reckless, harmed national security and put the lives of personnel at risk.
