Julian Assange reappears in Cannes with protest against Israeli actions in Gaza

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange reappeared at an international public event on Tuesday, 20, during the Cannes Film Festival in France. Assange participated in the debut of the documentary The Six Billion Dollar Manwhich portrays his trajectory and the years in which he was detained by court order.

During the event, he drew attention by wearing a t -shirt with the names of 4,986 Palestinian children killed in Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip. At the back of the dress, the phrase “Stop Israel” was read.

The exhibition of the documentary at the festival was Assange’s first public appearance since its release in June 2024. The film, directed by US filmmaker Eugecki, presents the trajectory of the founder of Wikileaks from the creation of the platform to the lawsuits faced by him in several countries. Jarecki, known for works as The king (2018), about Elvis Presley, had already received recognition at the Cannes Film Festival with the first Golden Globe granted to a documentary.

Assange’s participation took place about a year after his release, negotiated through an agreement with the United States Department of Justice.

Through the pact, he stated guilty of disseminating confidential information of military interest, in exchange for the freedom and the closure of the judicial process that extended more than a decade ago.

Assange was serving a sentence at Belmarsh’s maximum security arrest in the United Kingdom since 2019 after being removed from the Ecuador embassy in London, where he had lived for seven years under diplomatic asylum.

During the festival was also present the former Ecuador president, Rafael Correa, who granted Assange political asylum in 2012, at the height of the international judicial offensive. Correa followed the documentary’s exhibition on the red carpet and remained next to the journalist throughout the event.

The gesture of protest by Assange with the use of the t -shirt attracted international attention. The play featured the names of thousands of Palestinian children who, according to sources cited by vehicles such as Brazil, died in Israel’s military actions in the Gaza Strip.

The inscription “Stop Israel” on the back of the shirt was interpreted as a direct criticism of the action of the Israeli government amid the escalation of conflict in Palestinian territory.

The demonstration occurs in a moment of growing international attention to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The conflict between Israel and Palestinian armed groups has already resulted in thousands of deaths and has caused reactions in diplomatic and cultural forums around the world.

Assange’s participation in the festival reinforced this debate, associating his image with the denunciation of human rights violations.

Julian Assange was at the center of one of the largest cases of disclosure of confidential documents in recent history. Through WikiLeaks, its organization has published a series of classified files from US governments and other nations, revealing military operations, diplomatic correspondences, and covered actions in the context of the so -called “war on terror”. Among the materials disclosed, there are records of abuse committed by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange’s performance yielded recognition by advocates of press freedom, but also generated intense reactions from the governments involved.

He was accused by the US authorities of endangering national security and for years faced processes that asked for his extradition to the United States. In parallel, he was the subject of a court case in Sweden, where he responded to accusations of sexual assault, later filed.

Assange’s permanence at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, under diplomatic protection, was closed in 2019, when the Ecuador government revoked the asylum. He was then arrested by the British authorities and remained detained until the deal with the American courts, formalized in 2024.

The display of The Six Billion Dollar Man In Cannes marks Assange’s return to the public scenario and his attempt to rebuild the image in the face of international public opinion. The documentary, in addition to retelling its history, seeks to shed light on the impact of Wikileaks actions and the political and legal developments of his case.

Cannes’s choice for the film’s debut inserts Assange’s narrative in one of the main stages of the global film industry. The festival, known for gathering personalities from film, politics and international press, was used as a space for the dissemination of the work and protest.

There was no record of official pronouncements of the Israeli government about the protest made by Assange at the event. The gesture, however, reverberated on social networks and international vehicles, rekindling discussions about the situation in Gaza and the performance of public figures in the debate on armed conflicts and civil rights violations.

Assange’s presence at the festival and the documentary content indicates a new stage of public acting after more than a decade of imprisonment. The approach of topics such as freedom of expression, political persecution and human rights should continue to guide the trajectory of the founder of WikiLeaks on the international scene.