Julian Assange to make first public statements since release from prison

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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will make his first public statements since he was released from prison in June when he addresses the Council of Europe in Strasbourg next week.

Mr Assange, 53, will give evidence to the committee on legal affairs and human rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Tuesday, according to a Wikileaks statement.

The appearance follows the publication of an inquiry report by the parliamentary assembly into Mr Assange’s detention in Belmarsh Prison for five years. He had previously spent seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after requesting asylum.

The Wikileaks statement said: “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 report discusses how governments employ both legal and extralegal measures to suppress dissent across borders, which poses significant threats to press freedom and human rights.”

Wikileaks said Mr Assange was “in recovery” having returned to his native Australia on his release.

At the time, his wife Stella said he needed time to “rediscover freedom” and recuperate before speaking publicly at a “time of his choosing”.

The statement, posted on X, said he was attending the hearing in France “due to the exceptional nature of the invitation and to embrace the support received from PACE and its delegates”.

Mr Assange’s freedom in June followed a court appearance before a judge in the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific, where he pleaded guilty to a single charge after the US dropped 17 other espionage charges against him.

Because of the five years he has spent in Belmarsh Prison, mainly in solitary confinement, he was told he was free to leave.

He had flown to Saipan from the UK via Bangkok after a plea deal which brought to an end a criminal case of international intrigue and to the US government’s pursuit of a publisher whose secret-sharing website made him a cause celebre among many press freedom advocates who said he acted as a journalist to expose US military wrongdoing.

The decision to approve his extradition to the United States, made by then-home secretary Priti Patel in June 2022, was formally quashed at the High Court two days after his return to Australia. Mr Assange had been due to bring a challenge to the extradition in July.

US prosecutors had repeatedly asserted that his actions broke the law and put the country’s national security at risk.

The leaks detailed thousands of civilian deaths as a result of the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts, and implicated American armed forces in the killing of innocent bystanders, including a father and two Reuters journalists during an air strike on Baghdad in July 2007.