Where does Julian Assange go from here?

An early, grey October morning, in a soulless, grey meeting room at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, is the setting Julian Assange chose to make his return to public life, raising questions about what he plans to do next. 

Speaking softly but confidently for the one-and-a-half-hour hearing, the 53-year-old Australian, dressed in a plain blue suit and tie with his signature striking white hair combed neatly to the side, addressed parliamentarians from the 46 member states of Europe's Human Rights organization. 

"The experience of isolation for years in a small cell is difficult to convey. It strips away one's sense of self," said the founder of whistleblower group WikiLeaks.

He spent 14 years either holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London or the UK's Belmarsh prison, facing extradition to Sweden and the US, until his release in June this year. 

Assange's wife Stella sat next to him at the hearing, fussing over the button to switch his microphone on and off, indicating he required support from those around him. 

The hearing was called to an end 10 minutes before the allotted time after Assange expressed he was growing tired of answering questions. 

Figurehead of free speech

The speech was billed as an exception to his recovery from his ordeal, and it's understood he will now return to rehabilitating back into society. 

But with this public appearance, the question emerges: will Julian Assange return as a leader of the world's free speech movement?  

"I think he saw in that meeting how important his role is," Andrej Hunko, a Left Party member of the Bundestag, Germany's lower house of parliament, told DW after the meeting. "I think he will take time for his family, but at the same time, he's a really important figure for freedom of expression." 

When asked during the hearing what his intentions are going forward, Assange was vague, responding that he wants to spend time with his family and finds it difficult to adapt to modern realities, like the sounds of electric cars.

Plea deal release

The details of the plea deal he agreed which secured his release are unclear, although it lifted the charges he had faced under the US Espionage Act for publishing top secret files from the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including evidence of potential war crimes. 

"I eventually chose freedom over an unrealisable justice," Assange told the lawmakers in Strasbourg explaining why he took the deal. "I want to be totally clear: I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today because I pled guilty to journalism." 

The US demand for Assange's extradition put pressure on UK authorities during the 14 years he was in Britain, and one British parliamentarian warned Assange against some of his statements.

"He weakened his case by attacking the whole of the judicial system of the UK establishment," Sir Christopher Robert Chope, a Conservative Party member of the British parliament, told DW, pacing through the corridors away from the meeting room. "I think that showed his underlying prejudice, which I don't think strengthens Assange's case." 

Fiery reactions online

Assange's speech ended with a standing ovation by the parliamentarians in the hearing room, with the 50 or so journalists fidgeting, trained against clapping at press conferences even if they agree on Assange's imperative for freedom of speech. 

"It's good to be among people who give a damn. It's good to be amongst friends," Assange concluded while outside of the room, many respected experts were quick to blast his presence there on the X social media platform.

"Complete crank, gonna crank," posted Maximillian Hess, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. 

"Sigh — I assume the only reason the press covers what this Russian asset spews out is that you will get to ask him questions on the record afterward," posted Jakob Kirkegaard, Senior Fellow at the Bruegel think tank.

Assange was whisked into an elevator immediately after the hearing and didn't take any questions from reporters.

The chilling effects

For freedom of speech organizations, the Assange case is both a symbol of the global fight for press freedom and a cause of fear for journalists.  

"We will never know what stories have gone untold already because of what he has gone through," said Rebecca Vincent, Director of Campaigns at Reporters Without Borders.

"When people like Assange are targeted, that's very clearly intended to have a chilling effect," continued Vincent. "That effect exists now even though he's been released."

She knows Assange well, having visited him in Belmarsh prison six times while campaigning for his release, and believes the reason he spoke at the human rights body in Strasbourg is significant.

"He could have chosen instead to speak via any number of media outlets," said Rebecca Vincent. "He chose to speak up for the first time at Council of Europe which signals to me that Julian is still aware of how his case is perceived more broadly than what's just happened to him. That this is an extension of his fight for all of our rights." 

Edited by: Davis VanOpdorp