In his first public comments since his release from custody following a 14-year legal saga with the US, Assange said Tuesday at a hearing organized by the Parliamentary Assembly's Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee in Strasbourg, France. In the Council of Europe, that he had "pleaded guilty to journalism."

"I am not free today because the system is working," Assange told the committee. "I am free today after years of imprisonment because I have pleaded guilty to journalism." He said, "Journalism is not a crime, it is a pillar of a free and informed society."

Tuesday's event was held ahead of a full-length debate on the topic by the parliamentary assembly on Wednesday, Xinhua news agency reported.

In June this year, Assange pleaded guilty to a single felony count of violating the Espionage Act, allowing him to return to his home country of Australia without additional prison time in the US. He pleaded guilty in a federal court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, to "unlawfully obtaining and disseminating classified information relating to national defense."

Just months after his release, Assange gave evidence to the committee on the impact of his detention and conviction.

Assange's long legal battle with the US government began in 2010, when WikiLeaks published thousands of classified US military documents regarding the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.