The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has recognised Julian Assange as a "political prisoner" and condemned his treatment at the hands of the US and UK authorities.
The Assembly criticised the US for calling for life imprisonment "for what was - in essence - newsgathering and publishing". Rather than the persecution of Assange, the Assembly called on the US to investigate "the alleged war crimes and human rights violations disclosed by him and Wikileaks."
It continued that the US's actions have created the impression that its prosecution of Assange was "to hide the wrongdoing of state agents rather than to protect national security."
The UK was criticised for failing to "effectively protect freedom of expression and the right to liberty."
Assange addressed the Assembly on 1 October, saying in the course of his presentation:
"I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism. I pled guilty to seeking information from a source. I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source and I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was. [...] I hope my testimony today will serve to expose the weaknesses of the existing safeguards and to help those whose cases are less visible but who are equally vulnerable. [...] It is hard not to draw a line from the United States' prosecution of me, its crossing the Rubicon by internationally criminalising journalism, to the chill climate of freedom of expression that exists now."
Sources: Council of Europe, Reuters
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