“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.”
*Julian Assange /Anadolu via Getty image
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Key Background
In June, Assange 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. Assange agreed to enter the guilty plea as part of a deal with the U.S. government to end a decade-long legal fight and years of incarceration in the U.K. Assange was handed a 62-month prison sentence that was covered by the time he spent at London’s high-security Belmarsh prison. Before his plea deal, the Wikileaks founder faced multiple criminal charges linked to his website’s release of confidential U.S. military documents and diplomatic cables.
Culled forbes/pegasusreporyers
