Assange, founder of Wikileaks, complains to the Council of Europe that he is only ‘guilty of journalism’

The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange has once again defended before the Council of Europe the leaking of thousands of secret American documents, pointing out that he is only “guilty of doing journalism”. Assange broke his silence on Tuesday after being released from a British prison in June following his arrest distribution of secret documents.

Assange has traveled from his native Australia to Strasbourg for a symbolic speech in which he reflected on his years in the ‘dungeon’ of a maximum security prison in London where he had been staying. five years in prisonadded to the other seven who took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital.

He has stated that all these years of isolation “have taken their toll” on him, although he is now trying to get his life back on track thanks to an agreement reached with the US Attorney’s Office in which he pleaded guilty to violating the espionage legislation. In return, North American authorities would consider that his time behind bars had expired.

For the Human Rights Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and joined by his wife, Stella Assange, and Wikileaks director Kristinn Hrafnssson, he has defended that if he is now free it is “because the system worked.” “I have pleaded guilty to journalistic work. I have pleaded guilty to seeking information from sources,” or “nothing more,” he noted in his speech.

He has warned of the “dark crossroads” facing freedom of expression around the world, with investigative journalism “threatened” by laws, so he hopes his testimony will now at least serve to “highlight the weakness of the current safeguards’ press freedom, to expose other cases that may be “less visible” but that affect “equally vulnerable” people. “The idea is simple: journalists should not be prosecuted for their work,” he concluded.