Earlier than his time in jail, he had spent seven years in self-imposed exile within the Ecuadorian embassy in London, the place he claimed asylum on the grounds of political persecution, and fought extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations.
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He returned to Australia in late June. On the time his spouse, Stella, mentioned he wanted time to recuperate earlier than talking publicly.
Assange was crucial of the regimes in Russia and China for focusing on journalists in these international locations and world wide who tried to show repression, and pledged solidarity to murdered journalists in Ukraine and Gaza.
He mentioned he had no regrets about his choice to publish tons of of 1000’s of warfare logs and diplomatic cables that included particulars of US navy wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan, together with a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter assault by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 individuals, together with two Reuters journalists.
“The visible actuality of recent warfare shocked the world,” Assange mentioned.
“However we additionally used curiosity on this video to direct individuals to the categorized insurance policies for when the US navy might deploy deadly drive in Iraq … and what number of civilians may very well be killed earlier than gaining larger approval.
“In actual fact, 40 years of my potential 175-year sentence was for acquiring and releasing these insurance policies,” he mentioned, referring to the full penalty that would have utilized if he had been extradited to and convicted within the US.
“Allow us to cease gagging, torturing and killing one another for a change. Get these fundamentals proper, and different political, financial and scientific processes can have area to pay, can have area to care for the remainder.”
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Assange stays a extremely contentious determine globally. His supporters hail him as a figurehead of free speech and investigative journalism who has been persecuted for exposing data. His detractors see him as a reckless blogger whose choice to publish extremely delicate paperwork put lives in danger and severely compromised American safety.
Assange was invited to Strasbourg to offer proof to the Parliamentary Meeting of the Council of Europe. The committee lately printed a report on his detention, saying he certified as a political prisoner, and issued a draft decision expressing deep concern at his harsh therapy.
His testimony was interrupted a number of occasions by prolonged applause by the representatives of the council, which brings collectively the 46 signatory states of the European Conference on Human Rights.
Assange was fiercely crucial of former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who he described as one of many “wolves in a MAGA hat”, referring to Donald Trump’s Make America Nice Once more motion. He mentioned he learn Pompeo’s memoirs the place the previous director of the Central Intelligence Company had “bragged” about how he pressured the US attorney-general to deliver an extradition case in opposition to him.
“My spouse and my toddler son had been additionally focused, a CIA asset was completely assigned to trace my spouse, and directions got to acquire DNA from my six-month-old son’s nappy,” he mentioned.
“The CIA’s focusing on of myself, my household and my associates by aggressive, extrajudicial and extraterritorial means offers a uncommon perception into how highly effective intelligence organisations interact in transnational repression. Such repressions will not be distinctive.”
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