Assange in first public appearance: I chose freedom over justice

The Star

Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblower media group WikiLeaks, told European lawmakers on Tuesday (Oct 1) his guilty plea to US espionage accusations was necessary because legal and political efforts to protect his freedom were not sufficient.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00These proceedings will be recorded and broadcast.

00:21The transition from years of confinement in a maximum security prison to being here before

00:26the representatives of 46 nations and 700 million people is a profound and surreal shift.

00:35The experience of isolation for years in a small cell is difficult to convey.

00:42It strips away one's sense of self, leaving only the raw essence of existence.

00:48I am yet not fully equipped to speak about what I have endured, the relentless struggle

00:58to stay alive, both physically and mentally, nor can I speak yet about the deaths by hanging,

01:05murder and medical neglect of my fellow prisoners.

01:12I apologize in advance if my words falter or if my presentation lacks the polish you

01:18might expect from such a distinguished forum.

01:22Isolation has taken its toll, which I am trying to unwind, and expressing myself in this setting

01:30is a challenge.

01:31I eventually chose freedom over unrealizable justice after being detained for years and

01:38facing a 175-year sentence with no effective remedy.

01:45This for me is now precluded as the U.S. government insisted in writing into its plea

01:52agreement that I cannot file a case at the European Court of Human Rights or even a Freedom

01:58of Information Act request over what it did to me as a result of its expedition request.

02:05I want to be totally clear.

02:09I am not free today because the system worked.

02:12I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism.

02:20I pled guilty to seeking information from a source.

02:24I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source.

02:29And I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was.

02:36I did not plead guilty to anything else.

02:40I hope my testimony today can serve to highlight the weaknesses of the existing safeguards

02:48and to help those whose cases are less visible but who are equally vulnerable.

02:55My readaptation to the world, of course, includes some positive but still tricky things, becoming

03:07a father again to children who have grown up without me, becoming a husband again, even

03:17dealing with a mother-in-law.

03:19These are trying family issues.

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