Australia Wikileaks founder Assange speaks out for the first time since his release

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who was released in June, is set to speak publicly for the first time since his imprisonment in 2019. As Wikileaks announced on Wednesday, Assange will travel from Australia to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on October 1.

There, he will address the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, which has been dealing with his case. According to the meeting schedule, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will deal with Assange's case on October 2. Wikileaks stated that his testimony before the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights would take place on October 1.

The Council of Europe, which sees itself as the guardian of human rights, has 46 members since Russia was excluded. The organization is not affiliated with the EU.

Assange returned to his home country of Australia at the end of June after a total of twelve years in embassy asylum and prison in the UK. As part of an agreement with the US judiciary, the Australian had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to disclose information for national defense. He was formally sentenced to five years and two months in prison.

This sentence had already been served by his five-year sentence in Belmarsh Prison in the UK. Prior to his imprisonment, Assange had found asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years.

Confidential documents published

The US judiciary had accused Assange of publishing around 700,000 confidential documents on US military and diplomatic activities from 2010 onwards. The documents contained explosive information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the killing of civilians and the mistreatment of prisoners by US soldiers.

For his supporters, Assange is a hero who fights for freedom of expression. His critics see him as a traitor who has endangered the security of the USA and intelligence sources.

SDA