MUST SEE: Julian Assange Testifies at Council of Europe Hearing

“I pled guilty to journalism... I did not plead guilty to anything else...”

Julian Assange has maintained a low profile since he was released from Belmarsh prison in June. That changed on Tuesday, when the WikiLeaks founder broke his silence by giving evidence at a committee hearing of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France.

It was, per WikiLeaks, “his first official testimony on his case since before his imprisonment in 2019.”

“Julian Assange is still in recovery following his release from prison in June,” WikiLeaks said in a press release days earlier. “He is attending this session in person due to the exceptional nature of the invitation and to embrace the support received from PACE and its delegates over the past years.”

“His appearance before Europe's foremost human rights and treaty-setting body emphasises the broader implications of his case,” they added.

In the same press release, the organization further explained:

This comes following the release of the PACE inquiry report into the Assange case (…) The report focuses on the implications of his detention and its broader effects on human rights, in particular freedom of journalism. The report confirms that Assange qualifies as a political prisoner and calls on the UK conduct an independent review into whether he was exposed to inhuman or degrading treatment.

The entire hearing is available on YouTube, including the Q&A portion, but here are a few clips from his introductory statement (originally published as a thread on X and Notes).

On His Imprisonment

“The experience of isolation for years in a small cell is difficult to convey. It strips away one's sense of self, leaving only the raw essence of existence. I am yet not fully equipped to speak about what I have endured; the relentless struggle to stay alive, both physically and mentally. Nor can I speak yet about the deaths by hanging, murder, and medical neglect of my fellow prisoners...”

Assange begins his testimony:

The ‘Unprecedented Global Effort’ and His Decision to Plead Guilty

After thanking PACE and the many others around the world who have campaigned on his behalf for their efforts, Assange says “none of them should have been necessary.”

“But ALL of them WERE necessary, because without them, I never would have seen the light of day...”

“This unprecedented global effort was needed because, of the legal protections that did exist, many existed only on paper, [and] were not effective in any remotely reasonable time...”

“I eventually chose freedom over unrealizable justice...”

“Justice for me is now precluded, as the US government insisted on writing into its plea agreement that I cannot file a case at the European Court of Human Rights, or even an [FOIA] request over what it did to me as a result of its extradition request...”

Guilty of Journalism

“I want to be totally clear: 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 seeking information from a source.

I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source.

And I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was.

I did not plead guilty to anything else.”

State of Freedom of Speech and Expression

“As I emerge from the dungeon of Belmarsh, the truth now seems less discernible. And I regret how much ground has been lost during that time period; how expressing the truth has been undermined, attacked, weakened, and diminished.

I see more impunity, more secrecy, more retaliation for telling the truth, and more self-censorship.

It is hard not to draw a line from the US government's prosecution of me—its crossing the Rubicon by internationally criminalizing journalism—to the chilled climate for freedom of expression that exists now....”

Again, please see here for the full hearing.

Aftermath

On Wednesday, PACE voted to formally recognize Julian Assange as a “political prisoner,” and warned “against the chilling effect of his harsh treatment.”

From their news release:

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has expressed deep concern at “the disproportionately harsh treatment” faced by Julian Assange and said this has had a “dangerous chilling effect” which undermines the protection of journalists and whistleblowers around the world.

Approving a resolution based on a report by Thórhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC), the Assembly said Mr Assange’s treatment warranted his designation as a “political prisoner” under a definition it agreed in 2012, citing the severe charges brought against him by the United States of America, exposing him to possible life imprisonment, combined with his conviction under the US Espionage Act “for what was – in essence – newsgathering and publishing”.

The Assembly – which brings together parliamentarians from the 46 nations of the Council of Europe – also called on the US to investigate the alleged war crimes and human rights violations disclosed by him and Wikileaks. Its failure to do so, combined with the harsh treatment of Mr Assange and Ms Manning, creates a perception that the US government’s purpose in prosecuting Mr Assange was “to hide the wrongdoing of state agents rather than to protect national security”.

The Assembly called on the US, a Council of Europe observer state, to “urgently reform” the 1917 Espionage Act to exclude its application to publishers, journalists and whistleblowers who disclose classified information with the intent to raise public awareness of serious crimes.

For their part, the UK authorities had failed to effectively protect Assange’s freedom of expression and right to liberty, the parliamentarians said, “exposing him to lengthy detention in a high-security prison despite the political nature of the most severe charges against him”. His detention far exceeded the reasonable length acceptable for extradition, they said.

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