WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange to make public statement for the first time after being released from prison

LONDON — Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will make his first public statement since his release from prison in his speech to the European Council on Tuesday.

53-year-old Assange is expected to testify to the legal affairs and human rights committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.

The Parliamentary Assembly, which includes parliamentarians from 46 European countries, said the hearing would discuss Assange’s arrest and conviction “and their chilling effect on human rights”, ahead of a debate on the issue on Wednesday.

WikiLeaks said in a statement that Assange would attend the hearing in person “due to the exceptional nature of the invitation”.

Assange was released in June after five years in a British prison after pleading guilty to obtaining and publishing US military secrets in a deal that ended a protracted legal saga with Justice Department prosecutors. Before serving time in prison, he spent seven years in self-imposed exile at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he sought asylum on the grounds of political persecution.

The Australian online publisher has been accused of obtaining and publishing hundreds of thousands of war records and diplomatic cables detailing US military misdeeds in Iraq and Afghanistan. His activities were celebrated by press freedom advocates, who heralded his role in bringing to light military behavior that might otherwise remain hidden.

Among the files released by WikiLeaks was video of an Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad in 2007 that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

But critics say his behavior put American national security and innocent lives, such as those providing information to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, at risk and went far beyond the boundaries of traditional journalistic duties.

The years-long case ended when Assange entered his defense in a US district court in the Northern Mariana Islands, an American community in the Pacific.

Assange pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information under the Espionage Act. A judge sentenced him to five years in prison, which he spent behind bars in the United Kingdom fighting extradition to the United States.

Assange returned to Australia a free man in late June. His wife at the time, Stella, said he needed time to recover before speaking publicly.

His hearing on Tuesday came after the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe published a report into Assange’s five-year detention in a high-security prison in the United Kingdom.

The parliament’s human rights committee said Assange qualified as a political prisoner and published a draft resolution expressing deep concern about his harsh treatment.