July 21, 2020
The association “Die Anstifter” awards the Stuttgart Peace Prize 2020 to the imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. It is endowed with 5000 euros (about $5800).
Stuttgart – The Stuttgart Peace Prize 2020 of the association “Die Anstifter” goes to the imprisoned Wikileaks founder Julian Assange . The Australian-born has been in a London prison for about a year. The award for Assange is a sign that the right to unconditional freedom of information and the press is not only protected, but enforced, said club chairwoman Annette Ohme-Reinicke in Stuttgart on Tuesday.
With the award, the organization honors people or projects who are particularly committed to peace, justice and solidarity. The prize, endowed with 5000 euros, is to be awarded in Stuttgart on December 6.
The U.S. judiciary accuses Assange of helping whistleblower Chelsea Manning release secret material from U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Washington, the security of U.S. informants in particular was put at risk. Assange faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted on all 18 charges. The 49-year-old denies the allegations. The Wikileaks revelations had also led to the detection of war crimes by U.S. soldiers.
Assange had fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, fearing extradition to the United States. At the time, he had a European arrest warrant for rape allegations in Sweden. However, the investigation was later stopped.
The British police arrested Assange in April 2019 for violating bail conditions by fleeing to the embassy. Assange is still in prison for the U.S. extradition request.
LK: QUESTION: Why were there the Nuremberg trials of Nazi 1930-40s war criminals but no trials of U.S. 2000s war criminals, including the Collateral Damage killers exposed by Wikileaks?
LK: ANSWER: Trials target the losers. There are never trials of the winners. Instead, whoever reveals the winners’ criminality, such as Julian Assange, is attacked, here by the Americans. Imagine an Iraq-Afghanistan-Abu Graib Nuremberg with Americans in the dock.
See protest in New York against British illegal imprisonment of Julian Assange.