Vita gazette – The Capitoline Assembly has approved a motion calling for Julian Assange to be granted honorary citizenship of Rome. The motion was approved unanimously.

Rome is the first capital in the world to confer honorary citizenship on Julian Assange. The first signatory presented the motion, the former mayor Virginia Raggi (M5s), who declared: “Assange disseminated information to protect freedom of the press, information that governments kept secret because it revealed unspeakable facts, massacres, crimes against humanity.” Then he added: “Assange sacrificed himself for the cause of the manifestation of thought because he believes in freedom, and for this reason, he was persecuted”. Many cities in the world have taken action because they want to protect this man and prevent the USA from proceeding with the extradition”. “Now it’s almost time – Raggi said – if he were to face the charges in America, he risks 175 years in prison. He would die in prison for having been a journalist. He is a martyr. This motion is in defence of democracy”.

Activists supporting Julian Assange’s cause have pressured the capital to pass the motion to grant him honorary citizenship.

The motion arrived in the chamber last July 18th and was scheduled for August 3rd; however, in a surprise move, the municipal council approved a motion from the Democratic Party, which postponed it to September, when work resumed after the summer holidays. Assange’s honorary citizenship was therefore discussed again in September.

Who is Julian Assange

Julian Paul Assange was born on 3 July 1971 in Townsville, Australia. From a young age, he defined himself as an anarchist, so much so that he left home at seventeen and became a member of a hacker group. His new activity led him to be arrested in 1991 for computer piracy.

WikiLeaks

But Assange didn’t stop, and in 2007 came the turning point when he decided to open the WikiLeaks website. In a short time, the portal became a point of reference for hundreds of thousands of people. Why? Why secret documents are published. Hot, dangerous, thorny documents that embarrass the leading world powers. Especially the United States.

Julian Assange arrested

Assange ended up in the sights of the Swedish judiciary, which issued a European arrest warrant following a complaint of violence by two Swedish women. The case dates back to 2010. The co-founder of WikiLeaks, from London, makes it known that he had consensual relationships with the two women in question. Then he hands himself over to the police. After his arrest, he was imprisoned for nine days, placed under house arrest and then on probation. In 2012, fearing being extradited to Sweden and from there to the USA, he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy. Assange obtained political asylum and continues to publish classified documents on WikiLeaks. In 2019, Moreno, the new president of Ecuador, accused Assange of violating the conditions for political asylum. The recent arrest occurred on April 11. The English police obtained permission to enter the embassy to pick up the subject. Meanwhile, in Sweden, the case linked to violence accusations is reopened.