WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has appeared in public for the first time since regaining his freedom last June after a plea deal. He told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg on Tuesday 1 October, that he had chosen freedom “over unrealisable justice”.
Assange’s thoughts at PACE hearing
“I want to be totally clear. I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today because, after years of incarceration, I pled guilty to journalism. I pled guilty to seeking information from a source. I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source. And, I plead guilty to informing the public what that information was. I did not plead guilty to anything else.”
He continues, “I hope my testimony today can serve to highlight the weaknesses of the existing safeguards, and to help those whose cases are less visible but who are equally vulnerable”, he told the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe who are dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. Watch the entire hearing here.
Assange had spent five years in Belmarsh high security prison in south-east London, after being expelled and arrested following seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge, London where he was sheltering, fearing extradition to the United States.
The following day the Assembly passed a resolution proposed by Thórhildur Sunna Ӕvarsdóttir, an Icelandic MP from the Pirate Party, who expressed deep concern at “the disproportionately harsh treatment” faced by Assange. This was said to have a “dangerous chilling effect”, which undermined the protection of journalists and whistle blowers around the world.
Concerns over Assange’s treatment
The Assembly said Assange’s treatment warranted his designation as a “political prisoner” under a definition agreed on in 2012. They cited the severe charges brought against him by the United States of America, which exposed him to possible life imprisonment, combined with his conviction under the US Espionage Act “for what was – in essence – news gathering and publishing”.
