WikiLeaks founder alleges war crimes facilitation tied to prize granted to Maria Corina Machado.
On Wednesday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange filed a criminal complaint in Stockholm against the Nobel Foundation, accusing it of facilitating the commission of war crimes by awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to far-right Venezuelan activist Maria Corina Machado.
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The complaint alleges that 30 individuals linked to the Nobel Foundation committed crimes including aggravated misappropriation of funds, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and financing the crime of aggression.
By honoring Machado, the Nobel Foundation — including its chair, Astrid Soderbergh Widding, and its chief executive officer, Hanna Stjarne — has turned “an instrument of peace into an instrument of war,” Assange said.
The Nobel Foundation’s decision runs counter to the binding provisions of Alfred Nobel’s will, which stipulates that the prize should be awarded to the person who has done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations.
JULIAN ASSANGE FILES CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AGAINST NOBEL FOUNDATION OVER “INSTRUMENT OF WAR” PEACE PRIZE
WikiLeaks Founder Alleges 2025 Award to María Corina Machado Constitutes Misappropriation, Facilitation of War Crimes Under Swedish Law, Seeks Freeze of 11 million SEK ($1.18… pic.twitter.com/OAH4mmvsph
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 17, 2025
By contrast, Machado’s “incitement” of what Assange described as the largest U.S. military buildup since the Iraq war makes her “categorically ineligible” for the Nobel Peace Prize, he argued.
“Machado has continued to incite the Trump administration to stay on its path of escalation. By using her elevated position as a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Machado may well have tipped the balance in favor of war, facilitated by the named suspects,” Assange stated, referring to members of the Nobel Foundation.
The complaint includes as evidence statements in which Machado encouraged Washington to intervene militarily in Venezuela and justified U.S. attacks on civilian ships off the coast of the Caribbean nation.
For 50 years, the Nobel committee has rejected the candidacies of dissidents from the Western world. Julian Assange and Edward Snowden have worked for peace in a different way from Machado. But they possess one flaw: they expose our own dirty secrets. https://t.co/mPFnxVED4y
— Le Monde diplomatique in English (@LMdiplo) October 29, 2025
In this context, awarding the prize to the Venezuelan opposition figure — including the pending disbursement of 1 million euros — would constitute the crime of aggravated misappropriation of funds.
The complaint also warns of a “real risk” that the funds could be diverted in ways that indirectly contribute to financing U.S. war crimes, thereby violating Sweden’s state obligations under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
Assange is therefore asking Swedish authorities to freeze the transfer of the prize money to Machado, demand the return of the medal, and investigate the Nobel Foundation for the alleged crimes.
Machado is currently in Norway, where she arrived on Dec. 11 after a trip that prevented her from arriving in time for the award ceremony. She nonetheless took part in several official events in Oslo accompanied by her family and other far-right activists.
#FromTheSouth News Bits | Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolf Perez Esquivel, questioned the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Corina Machado, an extremist who calls for a military invasion of her own. pic.twitter.com/GS3P7KANNd
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) December 15, 2025
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Source: EFE
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