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The first words of the founder of WikiLeaks after his release.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange issued a statement in which he noted that his release was made possible by the fact that he "pleaded guilty to journalism". The statement was made at a meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, held in Strasbourg, France.
Assange was released in June this year, after five years in a British prison. He stressed that his release was not due to the normal functioning of the legal system, but due to the fact that he pleaded guilty to "obtaining information from a source" and journalistic investigations. It was part of a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice that ended a decades-long legal battle.
Before being imprisoned, Assange spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he went into hiding, claiming political persecution. He was accused of obtaining and publishing classified U.S. military documents exposing U.S. military abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among them is a video of an attack by an American Apache helicopter in 2007, which killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.
Assange's activities caused mixed reactions. Press freedom advocates note his contribution to the disclosure of important information about the war that could otherwise be hidden from the public. However, critics argue that his actions endangered U.S. national security and the lives of innocent people, including informants who collaborated with the U.S. military.
The case ended when Assange pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to illegally obtain and disseminate classified information. The court took into account the time he spent in a British prison and sentenced him to five years in prison.
Source
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange issued a statement in which he noted that his release was made possible by the fact that he "pleaded guilty to journalism". The statement was made at a meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, held in Strasbourg, France.
Assange was released in June this year, after five years in a British prison. He stressed that his release was not due to the normal functioning of the legal system, but due to the fact that he pleaded guilty to "obtaining information from a source" and journalistic investigations. It was part of a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice that ended a decades-long legal battle.
Before being imprisoned, Assange spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he went into hiding, claiming political persecution. He was accused of obtaining and publishing classified U.S. military documents exposing U.S. military abuses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among them is a video of an attack by an American Apache helicopter in 2007, which killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.
Assange's activities caused mixed reactions. Press freedom advocates note his contribution to the disclosure of important information about the war that could otherwise be hidden from the public. However, critics argue that his actions endangered U.S. national security and the lives of innocent people, including informants who collaborated with the U.S. military.
The case ended when Assange pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to illegally obtain and disseminate classified information. The court took into account the time he spent in a British prison and sentenced him to five years in prison.
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