“I Chose Freedom Over Justice”: Julian Assange
Addresses public for first time since prison release
HAVANA TIMES – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe today in his first public remarks since he was released from a London prison in June after pleading guilty to a U.S. charge of obtaining and disclosing national security material.
Julian Assange: “I eventually chose freedom over unrealizable justice after being detained for years and facing a 175-year sentence with no effective remedy. Justice for me is now precluded, as the U.S. government insisted in writing into its plea agreement that I cannot file a case at the European Court of Human Rights or even a Freedom of Information Act request over what it did to me as a result of its extradition request. 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.”
Tomorrow, European lawmakers will vote on a resolution focused on the political and “chilling” nature of Assange’s imprisonment. A draft resolution from the European body also called on the US to investigate the war crimes and human rights abuses revealed by WikiLeaks.