Assange challenges Nobel Peace Prize award to Venezuela’s Machado in Swedish court

Julian Assange has filed a criminal complaint in Sweden targeting the Nobel Foundation over its decision to award the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, escalating a controversy that has followed the prize since it was announced.

In the complaint, lodged on Wednesday, the WikiLeaks founder argues that the award represents a “gross misappropriation” of Nobel funds and amounts to the “facilitation of war crimes” under Swedish law. Assange said he is seeking to freeze 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.18m) in prize money before it is transferred to Machado.

The Nobel Committee awarded Machado the prize in October, citing her efforts to promote democratic rights and to achieve a peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy in Venezuela.

Assange’s filing goes much further. It names 30 individuals linked to the Nobel Foundation, including members of its leadership, accusing them of misappropriating funds, facilitating war crimes and crimes against humanity, and financing crimes of aggression.

By honouring Machado, Assange argues, the Nobel Committee transformed “an instrument of peace” into “an instrument of war”. In his complaint, he accuses the Venezuelan opposition leader of inciting and endorsing the “commission of international crimes” by the United States through her support for Washington’s military pressure campaign aimed at forcing President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Machado’s selection has drawn sharp criticism since October, particularly over her outspoken support for Israel during its ongoing genocidal war in Gaza. That included a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shortly after the Nobel announcement.

She has also pledged that, if she comes to power, Venezuela would move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, a position aligned with Israel and the United States but rejected by much of the international community.

Machado has further aligned herself with US President Donald Trump’s hardline approach to Venezuela. Trump administration officials have repeatedly accused Maduro of ties to drug trafficking networks that threaten US national security, claims that Washington’s own intelligence agencies have treated with scepticism, and have openly threatened military action.

Since September, Trump has ordered more than 20 US military strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and off Latin America’s Pacific coast, operations that have killed 104 people so far. At the same time, the US has carried out a major naval and air deployment in the region, fuelling fears that Washington could move towards a direct invasion of Venezuela.

Assange said this week that Machado’s support for Trump’s military campaign “categorically exclude[s]” her from eligibility for the peace prize under the terms of Alfred Nobel’s will.

“The complaint shows that Alfred Nobel’s 1895 will explicitly mandates that the peace prize go to the individual who during the preceding year ‘conferred the greatest benefit to humankind’ by doing ‘the most or the best work for fraternity between nations’,” Assange said.