A good day for Julian Assange. Finally, after 14 (fourteen!) torturous years of imprisonment, he was released from British custody and allowed to travel to his homeland of Australia. This brings an unprecedented scandal to an end, in which the British and Swedish judiciary became accomplices in a campaign of revenge, while the other governments of the Western world remained silent. Annalena Baerbock, for example, who had supported Assange during the election campaign, but no longer as German Foreign Minister.
Late justice is better than no justice, but it is inferior justice. Even a legally flawless victory could not give Assange back the 14 (fourteen!) years of his life that were stolen.
It is therefore understandable that he has agreed to a deal and will plead guilty to one of the original 17 (seventeen!) charges – “unlawful acquisition and distribution of classified documents” – at a hearing in a US Pacific territory in the coming days. It remains incomprehensible why the Biden administration took so long to find this solution and why the Australian government took so long to mediate on behalf of its citizen.
This is a bad day for press freedom. This deal, which allows the USA to “save face” in the affair, legitimizes Assange’s persecution and represents a threat to investigative journalism. Assange was not a bearer of secrets; he informed the world public about relevant, sometimes criminal, events.
After 14 (fourteen!) years, it is a moot question whether Wikileaks’ working practices met journalistic standards. Even if Assange made technical errors, he paid a high price for them, while no one responsible for the war crimes he uncovered in Afghanistan and Iraq has ever had to answer to a court.
This is also a bad day for the Western world. Both the events uncovered by Wikileaks and the way Assange was treated have contributed to the Western world’s loss of credibility. What are these Western values really worth when it hurts? For 14 (fourteen!) years, to the satisfaction of autocrats all over the world, there was no answer to this without mentioning the name Assange.
That will remain, even beyond this mixed day.