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by WikiLeaks

Julian Assange, accompanied by his wife Stella, took part in a parliamentary hearing on his detention and conviction – and their chilling effect on human rights – on 1 October 2024 ahead of a full plenary debate on this topic by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

In his first public remarks since his release from detention at Belmarsh Prison in the UK, Mr Assange told parliamentarians:

“I want to be totally clear. I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today because after years of incarceration I pleaded guilty to journalism. I pleaded guilty to seeking information from a source, and I pleaded guilty to informing the public what that information was.”

He added: “It’s good to be back. It’s good to be amongst people who – as we say in Australia – who give a damn. It’s good to be amongst friends.”

The hearing was organised by the Assembly’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights in the framework of a report on this topic by Thorhildur Sunna Ævarsdóttir (Iceland, SOC). Wikileaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson also took part. In a resolution adopted the next day, the Assembly – which brings together MPs from 46 European nations – recognised Mr Assange as a former “political prisoner”. It also expressed deep concern at Mr Assange’s harsh treatment, warned of its “chilling effect” and called on the United States, a Council of Europe observer state, to investigate the alleged war crimes and human rights violations disclosed by him and Wikileaks. Mr Assange and his wife Stella were in the public gallery watching the debate.

• More on the hearing

• More on the Assembly’s resolution

• The Assembly’s resolution, the full report by Ms Ævarsdóttir and other documents

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PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT

Julian Assange: However, in February 2017, the landscape changed dramatically. President Trump had been elected. He appointed two wolves in MAGA hats, Mike Pompeo, a Kansas congressman and former arms industry executive, as CIA director, and William Barr, a former CIA officer, as US Attorney General.

By March 2017, WikiLeaks had exposed the CIA’s infiltration of French political parties. It’s spying on French and German leaders. It’s spying on the European Central Bank, European economics ministries, and it’s standing orders to spy on French industry as a whole.

We revealed the CIA’s vast production of malware and viruses. It’s a version of supply chains. It’s a version of antivirus software, cars, smart TVs, and iPhones.

CIA director Pompeo launched a campaign of retribution. It is now a matter of public record that under Pompeo’s explicit direction, the CIA drew up plans to kidnap and to assassinate me within the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and authorized going after my European colleagues, subjecting us to theft, hacking attacks, and the planting of false information. My wife and my infant son were also targeted.

A CIA asset was permanently assigned to track my wife, and instructions were given to obtain DNA from my six-month-old son’s nappy. This is the testimony of more than 30 current and former US intelligence officials speaking to the US press, which has been additionally corroborated by records seized in a prosecution brought against some of the CIA agents involved. The CIA’s targeting of myself, my family, and my associates through aggressive extrajudicial and extraterritorial means provides a rare insight into how powerful intelligence organizations engage in transnational repression.

Running Time: 97 mins

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