Russian Spokesperson Maria Zakharove, July 17, 2019
http://www.mid.ru/en/foreign_policy/news/-/asset_publisher/cKNonkJE02Bw/content/id/3728725##9
During a briefing on Wednesday in Moscow, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova noted the incongruity of the British Foreign Office holding a “Global Conference for Media Freedom in London on July 10-11, with WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange “caged up” and RT and Sputnik barred from attending.
Dripping with irony, Zakharova recalled the conference’s “lofty and beautiful words” about protecting freedom of speech and journalists,” adding:
“My impression is that London has already made the first step in this direction. Julian Assange is very safe and it is in London that he is so safe. Now, he is finally protected from any threats from open society. British lawyers and human rights officers packed him away so well that, I am afraid, we will not see or hear from him for a very long time.”
Forgoing further irony, Zakharova went on: “It is so incredibly cynical to convene an entire conference and discuss freedom of speech in the country where he was held hostage and subjected to moral and psychological experiments for so many years, where he was detained, arrested and basically caged up …”
“This entire conference amid Assange’s arrest in London resembles a cat symposium on mouse protection.”