'I chose freedom over unrealisable justice' in plea deal, says Assange

Julian Assange has said he chose freedom "over unrealisable justice" as he described his plea deal with US authorities and urged European lawmakers to act to protect freedom of expression in a climate with "more impunity, more secrecy [and] more retaliation for telling the truth".

- Jennifer Rankin

In his first public statement since the plea deal in June ended his nearly 14 years of prison, embassy confinement and house arrest in the UK, the WikiLeaks founder argued that legal protections for whistleblowers and journalists "only existed on paper".

"I eventually chose freedom over unrealisable justice, after being detained for years and facing a 175year sentence with no effective remedy," he told lawmakers in Strasbourg at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace), the human rights body with members ranging from Iceland to Azerbaijan.

"I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism," he continued.

"The rights of journalists and publishers within the European space are seriously threatened," he told Pace's committee on legal affairs and human rights, urging the assembly to act. "The criminalisation of news-gathering activities is a threat to investigative journalism everywhere."