Assange files complaint against Nobel winner Machado
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange filed a legal complaint against the Nobel Foundation to stop payments to Nobel Peace Prize winner and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
Assange argues that Machado’s public support for US President Donald Trump’s military actions against Venezuela violates the Peace Prize’s core principles.
In a statement shared by WikiLeaks on
The complaint cites Alfred Nobel’s will, which stipulated that the Peace Prize should be awarded only to those who “have brought the greatest benefit to humanity” by “doing the greatest or best work for the fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the organization and promotion of peace congresses.”
“Assange filed a criminal complaint today in Sweden accusing 30 individuals associated with the Nobel Foundation, including Nobel Foundation leaders, of serious suspected crimes, including gross misappropriation of funds, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and financing of the crime of aggression,” WikiLeaks said in its statement. The statement was included.
He said that by giving the award to Machado, the foundation turned “an instrument of peace into an instrument of war.”
Those named in the complaint include Nobel Foundation President Astrid Soderbergh Widding and CEO Hanna Stjarne.
Assange argued that Machado was “categorically ineligible” for the award and accused him of encouraging what he described as the largest US military buildup since the Iraq war.
Assange cited as evidence his remarks in a television interview that he did not meet this standard. Appearing on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Machado publicly endorsed US President Donald Trump’s tough policies towards Venezuela, including increasing sanctions and seizing oil tankers.
“Look, I absolutely support President Trump’s strategy, and we as the people of Venezuela are very grateful to him and his administration because I believe he is a defender of freedom in this hemisphere,” he said during the interview.
He claimed that Machado had repeatedly called on the US government to adopt an increasingly aggressive stance against Venezuela.
The complaint also disputes the payment of the reward of 11 million Swedish krona, or approximately US$1.18 million ($1.79 million), and argues that releasing the funds would constitute gross abuse.
The report warns that there is a “real risk” that the money could be diverted into ways that would indirectly “finance war crimes” and violate Sweden’s obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Assange wants Swedish authorities to freeze the transfer of prize money, demand the return of the Nobel medal and launch an investigation into the Foundation.
Machado is currently in Norway. He arrived on 11 December after being unable to attend the awards ceremony due to travel delays, but later attended official events in Oslo along with family members and Venezuelan opposition figures.
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