WikiLeaks says thanks to everyone who supported organization, its founder Assange
The organization stressed that Assange's release was "the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organizers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations"
SYDNEY, June 26. /TASS/. WikiLeaks expressed gratitude to all those who supported the organization and its founder Julian Assange and fought for his release, the non-profit media organization wrote on social network X.
The post notes that WikiLeaks founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange has "paid severely for these principles, and for the people’s right to know the truth."
"We published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian [Assange] paid severely for these principles. As he returns to Australia, we thank all those who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom," WikiLeaks pointed out.
The organization stressed that Assange's release was "the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organizers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations." "This created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalized [that secured the WikiLeaks founder's freedom]," the statement said.
WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange has been held since 2019 at the high-security Belmarsh prison in the UK, where he was placed after being removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital. For more than five years, Washington has been pushing London to extradite him to the United States, but Assange's defense has made every new attempt to prevent that from happening. Assange has been charged in the United States with crimes related to the largest disclosure of classified information in American history.
On Wednesday, as part of a deal with US prosecutors, Assange pleaded guilty in court to conspiracy to obtain and disseminate classified information. For that offense, the Australian was sentenced to the time he already served in a British prison. On the same day, Assange returned to Australia.