WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange filed a criminal complaint on Tuesday, December 17, against the Nobel Foundation, accusing 30 members of the organization, including its chairwoman and executive director, of involvement in serious crimes under Swedish law. The action challenges the Norwegian Nobel Peace Committee’s decision to award this year’s prize to far-right Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado.
Assange is requesting the immediate freezing of 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately USD 1.18 million) scheduled to be transferred to Machado, arguing that awarding the prize completely distorts the principles expressed in Alfred Nobel’s will, which stipulated that the prize should go to whoever worked for fraternity among nations and the reduction of standing armies.
In the complaint submitted to Sweden’s Economic Crimes Authority and War Crimes Unit, Assange maintains that the selection of María Corina “converted an instrument of peace into an instrument of war.” The legal filing mentions possible crimes including misappropriation of funds, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as financing the crime of aggression. Assange argues that “Machado’s incitement of the largest US military buildup since the Iraq war makes her categorically ineligible.”
The document lists recent public statements by the Venezuelan politician, such as explicit support for the United States’ military strategy in the Caribbean, her advocacy for military intervention in the South American country, and alignment with the offensive by Donald Trump, the US president reelected in 2024. “Alfred Nobel’s endowment for peace cannot be spent on the promotion of war,” Assange stated in the filing.
Beyond challenging the selection of María Corina, the WikiLeaks founder questions why the Nobel Foundation did not exercise the same oversight it had in 2018, when it suspended the transfer of the Literature prize. Assange notes that the administrators have a legal obligation to ensure compliance with Alfred Nobel’s will, and that any disbursement contrary to its purpose may constitute a crime.
Between war and oil: Nobel deepens international crisis
The complaint comes amid a major US military escalation in the Caribbean region. Just two days after the Nobel Peace ceremony on December 10, Trump announced that military attacks on Venezuela “would begin by land.” The deployment of more than 15,000 soldiers, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, is considered by analysts to be the largest US military deployment in the Caribbean since the Missile Crisis in 1962.
María Corina, who has been in exile since July 2024 following coup attempts against Nicolás Maduro’s reelection, welcomed the mobilization. In an interview with CBS, she declared unconditional support for Trump’s strategy and said she aspires to the Venezuelan presidency following a possible foreign intervention.
Assange
Assange’s own trajectory is also directly shaped by conflicts like those now involving Venezuela. Persecuted for more than a decade for revealing war crimes committed by the US in Afghanistan and Iraq, he spent seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London and five years imprisoned under maximum security in the United Kingdom. Released in June 2024 following a judicial agreement with the US, he now lives in Australia, his home country.
Assange’s criminal complaint against the Nobel Foundation requests, among other measures, that the money be frozen, the medal returned, the foundation members investigated, and that the case potentially be referred to the International Criminal Court. For the activist, the 2025 prize marks a dangerous turning point: “María Corina Machado may have tipped the scales in favor of war, facilitated by the named suspects.”
Republished from Peoples Dispatch.
