Bigmouth Europe

When will the European instititions finally pressure for Julian Assange to be released?! Foto: VitaliVVitaliV / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA 3.0

(KL) – Isn’t this nice – more and more European governments vote laws to promote the protection of whistle-blowers, these brave journalists and citizens who disclose to the world top secret documents and information proving wrongdoings of all kinds committed by our governments. These are the guys to protect, say our governments. These are the European values, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of everything. At least, in theory.

In practice, the same governments are a complete failure regarding the case of whistle-blowers. Take the example of Julian Assange, currently tortured in a high security prison in Great Britain (yes, Great Britain is still a member of the European Union) and, as stated in an open letter signed by more than 60 doctors, threatened to die in prison. Of course, European institutions must have taken a clear position asking for Julian Assange to be immediately released and transferred to a hospital to save his life. No?

Well, no. Although the fake rape allegations against Julian Assange have been dropped after 8 (!) years by Sweden, although Julian Assange would be sentenced to 175 years in prison if extradited to the United States, although Julian Assange is being tortured on European soil, the European Union prefers to look somewhere else. And to vote laws in favour of whistle-blower protection.

Back in July, the European United Left / Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) had organized a meeting in the European Parliament in Brussels. Just a meeting, where experts discussed the Assange case. Nothing official, though, no hearing, let alone debate or vote in the hemicycle. Just a meeting. At this meeting, the participants invited the European decision bodies to take action against the British government which holds Assange like a token to improve their negotiation position with the USA regarding a new free trade agreement once the “Brexit” is done.

And, to save at least the honour of the Greens in the European Parliament, the MEPs Manu Pineda and Sira Rego submitted a written question to the European Commission (P-002438-19) asking if Julian Assange was entitled to the same treatment (and protection) as any other EU citizen. Six weeks later, the Commissioner for Justice Mrs. Joureva answered in an utmost administrative way, stating that Julian Assange’s profession did not give him any special protection. And she stated at the end of her answer, that a possible extradition would also be governed by EU-US agreements. Which, in the end of the day, says nothing. That’s all, folks.

Did anybody hear about a vote in the European Parliament urging the British government to release Julian Assange and/or offering to grant him asylum? Did anybody read or hear about the European Council inviting their British colleague to act in favour of Julian Assange? Well, no. It’s easier to vote laws on whistle-blower protection and thus assuring an excellent political communication than to act. And after all, isn’t everybody rather happy that no Julian Assange is disclosing our own dirty weapon deals, our own dirty corruption cases, our own involvement in war crimes on the different war and civil war scenes in the world?

Several petitions launched by NGOs and other private organizations have gathered hundreds of thousand signatures, demanding the release of Julian Assange before he is tortured to death in a European country. The reaction of the political bodies is – inexistent.

How in the world can anybody boost on his or her engagement in favour of whistle-blowers while the most prominent whistle-blower in the world (alongside Edward Snowden who has received as much support by the European institutions as Julian Assange) is tortured to death in Europe? When European politicians talk about “values” and “engagement”, you better listen carefully. Because what these people tell you is most probably nothing but fake news. Once Julian Assange is dead, it will be too late to take action. If the European institutions want to maintain just a little bit of credibility, they must act now. And tell the Brits that there will be no free trade agreement, no negotiations whatsoever, unless they release Julian Assange at once. What are they waiting for?