Lula celebrates release of Julian Assange

On Tuesday (Jun 25), Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva celebrated the release of Australian journalist and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, 52.

“The world is a little better and less unfair today. Julian Assange is free after 1,901 days in prison. His release and return home, albeit belated, represent a victory for democracy and the fight for press freedom,” the president wrote in a post on social media.

In a deal with the US courts, Assange agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to illegally obtain and disclose classified information. The activist is accused of 18 crimes, including espionage, following the 2010 publication of military and diplomatic documents that revealed war crimes and human rights abuses during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

He was arrested in the UK in 2019 where he was serving a sentence for having violated the conditions of his parole when he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden. At the time, Sweden was requesting his extradition on sex crime charges.

According to Wikileaks, Assange left the maximum security prison in Belmarsh on Tuesday morning (25) and has already left for Australia, his final destination.

On several occasions, President Lula has spoken out about the journalist’s situation, calling his imprisonment “a disgrace” and saying that Assange should have been rewarded for revealing “secrets of the powerful,” instead of being imprisoned.