PARIS, October 1. /TASS/. The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has arranged a "campaign of retribution" against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, showcasing to the world the capabilities of intelligence organizations for extraterritorial repression, Assange said, speaking at a conference at the Council of Europe.

"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," Assange said.

He stated that following the release of data on the mass production of harmful software and the CIA's espionage program, then-CIA chief Mike Pompeo "launched a campaign of retribution" against Assange and his supporters. Specifically, there were plans to kidnap and kill Assange in London, while his supporters in Europe faced hacking attacks and theft.

"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," Assange said, referring to the testimony of more than 30 current and former US intelligence officials, provided in interviews with the US press and further corroborated by recordings seized during the prosecution of certain CIA agents.

Assange’s case

In 2019, Assange was placed in Belmarsh prison after being removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. For more than five years, Washington kept trying to ensure the extradition of the WikiLeaks founder from Britain to the United States, where he was accused of crimes related to the largest case of disclosure of classified information in American history.

As part of a deal with US prosecutors, Assange pleaded guilty in court to conspiracy to obtain and disseminate classified information. For this offense, the Australian was given a sentence for the time he had already served in the British prison.

On June 26, Assange returned to Australia, where his family resides. This was made possible by a plea agreement with the US Department of Justice, which was accepted by the court on the island of Saipan on the same day.