My most important message is that, ultimately, the trial of Assange is not really about Assange. It is about the integrity of our constitutional institutions and, thus, the essence of the „republic“ in the original sense of the word. At stake is nothing less than the future of democracy. I do not intend to leave to our children a world where governments can disregard the rule of law with impunity, and where telling the truth has become a crime.

—Nils Melzer, The Trial of Julian Assange, (London: Verso, 2022), 5.