Free Julian Assange!
[From the founding of PEN Berlin on 10 June 2022 to the release of Julian Assange on 25 June 2024]
Press release of June 25, 2024
Julian Assange: Finally, but
Finally – Julian Assange, the longest serving political prisoner in the Western world, is free and on his way home to Australia. PEN Berlin welcomes the release of its honorary member with great relief. After 15 years of injustice, the decision by the US Justice Department to return to the proper treatment of whistleblowers was years overdue. MORE
Press release of March 26, 2024
Julian Assange: No victory, just no defeat
Julian Assange could not win today; for him it was only a matter of not losing – as so often in the past 13 years”, Menasse said. (…) PEN Berlin recalls that Julian Assange has been in prison for over 13 years because of the publications of WikiLeaks. However, no one has yet been brought to justice for the war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan exposed by WikiLeaks. MORE
Press release of Februar 20, 2024
Julian Assange: The Dreyfus of Our Century
It has all been said. Not just once, but a thousand times: in its treatment of the Wikileaks founder and journalist Julian Assange, the West is showing just how much its values are really worth in an emergency. Julian Assange, who has been in England’s Belmarsh high-security prison for four years without charge, who previously had to hide in the Embassy of Ecuador for seven years on Snowflakeed-up sex charges, who now faces 175 years in prison or the death penalty if extradited to the US – he is the Dreyfus of our century. MORE
Presse notice of October 7 2022
Another Evening for Julian Assange
PEN Berlin is organizing an evening for Julian Assange in Munich. The documentary film »Hacking Justice« by Juan Pancorbo and Clara López Rubio will be screened, followed by a discussion with Patrick Bahners, Ralf Nestmeyer and Angela Richer, moderated by Knut Cordsen. Chicks on Speed feat. Jeremiah Day will perform two songs (for Julian Assange). Because journalism is not a crime.
Frankfurter Rundschau, interview by Bascha Mika with Deniz Yücel, 13 October 2022: »The promise of freedom, democracy and the rule of law must be viewed against the backdrop of torture camps such as Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo. Assange reported on these crimes, which undermined the credibility of the West. And the way he was then treated further damaged that credibility. (…) It is not only Assange who is paying for Western hypocrisy with his loss of freedom. The West, too, is paying a price.« LINK
Press release of September 7, 2022
An Evening for Julian Assange
»I have never seen a group of democratic states come together to deliberately isolate, demonise and disrespect a single individual for so long« (UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Nils Melzer, on Julian Assange). (…) That’s why PEN Berlin is organizing an evening for its honorary member Julian Assange. Because journalism is not a crime. MORE
Press release of June 17, 2022
UK: Extradition of Julian Assange
PEN Berlin is shocked by British Home Secretary Priti Patel’s decision to extradite Julian Assange to the US. We urge the German government to work for his immediate release, and to offer him political asylum. All the government needs to do is to keep the promises made before the last general election. (…) In this sense, Julian Assange is the Dreyfus of the 21st century. We will do our utmost to protect freedom of the press and freedom. MORE
Press release of June 13, 2022
Honorary Member from Day 1
On Friday, 10th of June 2022, PEN Berlin was legally founded as an association under German law in the Literaturhaus Berlin. Some 360 authors, translators and publicists joined the new association as founding members. (…) Julian Assange, who scandalously remains imprisoned in England and is threatened with extradition to the USA, has likewise accepted an honorary membership of PEN Berlin. MORE