02/10/2024 | 10:55:04 Thank you, Madam President. Dear colleagues, I would like to thank you for this good debate about this important topic. And I would like to point out that if you look at the definition of a political prisoner, Mr Julian ASSANGE and his case fulfils this definition. He was convicted for engaging in acts of journalism. This is a clear instance of a politically motivated incarceration. If it were any other country, if it were one of the countries that we are happy to point towards having... 02/10/2024 | 10:03:43 Dear colleagues, my voice has failed me on this big day, so I will have a very brief speech in the beginning and hope to regain it so that I can answer your comments. Dear colleagues, The draft resolution before you devotes significant attention to one man, but the consequences of Mr Julian ASSANGE's prosecution and conviction extend far beyond a single person. I fear that this dangerous precedent poses a grave threat to media freedom, and consequently, overall to democracy. In 2007, in this... 30/09/2024 | 12:13:06 Dear Vladimir, I'm so happy that you can finally deliver your acceptance speech for your well-earned Václav Havel Human Rights Prize for which I had the great honour of nominating you back in 2022. You were imprisoned for speaking your mind, for bravely speaking against war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the agents of the usurper of your beloved home country, Russia, against your friends and neighbours in Ukraine. You were imprisoned because you returned to Russia after... 27/06/2024 | 19:44:48 Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear colleagues, One of the main purposes of this Organisation is to protect freedom of expression. It is one of the fundamental tenets of any democracy. If we destroy freedom of expression in our societies, in our states, we are destroying our democracy, because one cannot exist without the other. There are many diverging age-old threats to the freedom of expression in Europe, and of course we should be doing more, and we should be doing better. I also think that we... 27/06/2024 | 19:08:40 Thank you, President. Dear colleagues, the International Court of Justice has ordered that the State of Israel immediately hold its military offensive in Gaza to prevent the genocide of the Palestinian people. Israel did not stop. Israel has not been made to stop. And Europe certainly has not told Israel to stop. This Assembly certainly has not told Israel to stop. But why, Mister President? What else does this Assembly, this continent, need to stand up against the crime of genocide? The... 18/04/2024 | 18:47:33 Thank you, Mister President. Dear colleagues, Many of you have stated that this conflict started on the 7 October last year, with Hamas' reprehensible attack on Israel and its citizens, and the taking of hundreds of hostages, an act which I condemn wholeheartedly. But this conflict did not start on 7 October. It started with decades of illegal occupation of Palestinian lands. It started with decades of systematic ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, with decades of disenfranchised humiliation... 18/04/2024 | 16:54:41 Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear colleagues, thank you for your insightful and valuable contributions to this debate on our opinion, hopefully to be adopted now on this first ever Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. I think it is a really important step in the right direction, this framework convention. It is very important that we regulate the development of AI and try to prevent the most negative impacts it can have on our most cherished... 18/04/2024 | 15:37:44 Dear President, Dear colleagues, The Committee of Ministers transmitted to the Assembly a draft Framework Convention on Artificial Intelligence, Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, which was prepared by the Committee on Artificial Intelligence on 20 March. We were invited to give our statutory opinion on a text as soon as possible, because it is no secret that the Committee of Ministers wishes to introduce this first international legally binding instrument on artificial intelligence... 17/04/2024 | 17:27:19 Thank you, Mister Chair. Let me begin by thanking Evgenia for her exceptional and truly moving address. Thank you for reminding us that the resistance against Putin's regime and the anti-war movement in Russia is far from dead, and let us not buy onto the Kremlin's propaganda of unilateral support for this criminal dictator and his work crimes. As you stated, Evgenia, the people fighting against Putin's regime are the alternative, and let us lift them up and raise their voices. Colleagues, I... 17/04/2024 | 15:53:47 Thank you, Mister President. Dear colleagues, In March 2022, the historian, politician, and winner of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize in 2022, Vladimir Kara-Murza, gave a speech to the Arizona House of Representatives. Upon his return to Russia, he was imprisioned for making that speech. During his speech, he said the following, and I quote, "I wish we had been wrong on this, but today the whole world sees what the Putin regime is doing in Ukraine. The cluster bombs on residential areas...