WikiLeaks' Julian Assange to make first public appearance since release

Julian Assange will make his first public appearance since his release from a British jail, giving evidence to the Council of Europe on October 1.

WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange is set to make his first public appearance since being freed from a British jail when he gives evidence to the Council of Europe next month, his organisation said on Wednesday.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is scheduled to testify before the Council of Europe next month, marking his first public appearance since his release from British custody. His wife emphasized the need for recovery time post-incarceration. (AP)

Assange, 53, returned to Australia in June after a deal was struck for his release which saw him plead guilty to violating U.S. espionage law, ending a 14-year British legal odyssey.

His wife Stella, who he married while in a top security London jail, said he would need some time to regain his health and sanity after his long incarceration, as well as to be with their two children who he had never seen outside of a prison.

He will now speak in public for the first time when he gives evidence to the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg on Oct 1.

It comes after a PACE report into his case which concluded he was a political prisoner and called for Britain to hold an inquiry into whether he had been exposed to inhuman treatment.