In his first public comments since release from prison, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he chose to plead guilty to journalism-related charges in order to secure freedom, admitting the transition to life outside is a 'profound and surreal shift'.
Julian Assange says he is only free because he pleaded guilty to being a journalist and admits his personal transition from years confined in a maximum security prison to freedom has been a “profound and a surreal shift” with which he is still struggling.after five years in a British prison after plea deal with the US government, said it was important to remember he was not free because the legal system worked, but only because he chose it over “an unrealisable justice”.
Wearing a navy-blue suit and a maroon tie, Assange coughed regularly through his 45-minute address to the council, occasionally stumbling over his words. He admitted he found it difficult to talk about his lengthy experience behind bars. The Australian citizen was released after he was convicted of obtaining and publishing US military secrets in the deal with US Justice Department prosecutors that concluded a drawn-out legal saga. A judge sentenced him to the five years he had already spent behind bars in a high-security UK prison while fighting extradition to the US.
“Let us stop gagging, torturing and killing each other for a change. Get these fundamentals right, and other political, economic and scientific processes will have space to pay, will have space to take care of the rest.”Assange remains a highly contentious figure globally. His supporters hail him as a figurehead of free speech and investigative journalism who has been persecuted for exposing information.
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