John Shipton, the father of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, has said that he is grateful to Russian President Vladimir Putin for supporting his son amid his persecution by the Western authorities.
Shipton arrived in Moscow on Sunday at the invitation of Russian journalist Mira Terada, the co-chair of the BRICS Journalists’ Association.
“In 2012, President Putin became the first head of state to speak out in defense of Julian’s interests as a publisher and citizen,” Shipton told RIA Novosti.
Putin came forward when only “defamatory lies” were spread about his son in the media, Assange’s father said. “For this, I express my sympathy to your president,” he added.
Assange spent five years in Belmarsh high-security prison in the UK as he fought extradition to the US, which had accused him of unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified information, much of which was related to American war crimes. He was placed in the facility over breach of bail, after living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, which had granted him asylum, from 2012 to 2019.
In June, he struck a plea bargain with the US Justice Department, formally acknowledging some guilt and waiving his right to legal recourse in exchange for freedom. “I pled guilty to journalism,” Assange explained later.
In an interview with RT earlier on Saturday, Shipton explained the reason for his current visit to Russia. “I hope to offer the hand of friendship between myself and the Russian people, for it is only through peace between the West and Russia, and BRICS, that the world can live in some sort of harmony without the constant fear of destruction by atomic weapons,” he said.