WikiLeaks founder said awarding Venezuela’s opposition leader is a ‘gross misappropriation’ of funds and risks facilitating war crimes.WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has filed a criminal complaint in Sweden against the Nobel Foundation, challenging the organisation’s decision to award its Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.Assange said this year’s awarding of the prize to Machado represented a “gross misappropriation” of funds and the “facilitation of war crimes” under Swedish law. He added that he was seeking to freeze 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.18m) from being transferred to her as prize money.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe Nobel Committee awarded Machado the prize in October for promoting democratic rights and fighting to achieve a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.Assange’s criminal complaint, filed on Wednesday, accuses 30 individuals associated with the Nobel Foundation, including the organisation’s leadership, of misappropriating funds, facilitating war crimes and crimes against humanity, and financing crimes of aggression.By awarding the prize to Machado, “an instrument of peace” was converted “into an instrument of war”, Assange said in the complaint, accusing Machado of inciting and endorsing the “commission of international crimes” by the United States as it applies military pressure to force Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro to step down.A contentious selectionMachado’s selection for the prestigious honour was not without controversy after drawing criticism for her vocal support for Israel during its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza, including in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after her Nobel win was announced in October. Advertisement She has pledged to move Venezuela’s embassy in Israel …
