Julian Assange claimed to be free after “pleading guilty to having engaged in journalism”, speaking for the first time since his release from prison on Tuesday before a Council of Europe commission responsible for studying his conditions of confinement. detention.
“I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today (…) because I pleaded guilty to having engaged in journalism,” declared the founder of WikiLeaks. Assange has spent the last 14 years first cloistered in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and then detained in Belmarsh, a prison near the British capital. He was released in June.
“I pleaded guilty to seeking to obtain information from a source and I pleaded guilty to informing the public of the nature of that information. I have not pleaded guilty to any other charges,” he continued.
“I hope that my testimony today can serve to highlight the weaknesses of existing safeguards and to help those whose cases are less visible, but who are just as vulnerable,” declared Julian Assange, regretting to see “ no more impunity, no more secrecy, no more reprisals against (those who tell) the truth and no more self-censorship.”
