Tänka sig..

This is interesting given what happened not many days later in Venezuela:

WikiLeaks Founder Alleges 2025 Award to María Corina Machado Constitutes Misappropriation, Facilitation of War Crimes Under Swedish Law, Seeks Freeze of 11 million SEK ($1.18 million USD) of Pending Transfers to Machado

STOCKHOLM — 11:00am CET December 17, 2025

Julian Assange today filed a criminal complaint in Sweden accusing 30 individuals associated with the Nobel Foundation, including its leadership, of committing serious suspected crimes, including the crime of gross misappropriation of funds, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the financing of the crime of aggression.

The complaint shows that Alfred Nobel's 1895 will explicitly mandates that the peace prize go to the individual who during the proceeding year “conferred the greatest benefit to humankind” by doing “the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Assange argues that “The political decision of the Norwegian selection committee does not suspend the fiduciary duty of Swedish funds administrators”. “Any disbursement contradicting this mandate constitutes misappropriation from the endowment”.

The complaint, submitted simultaneously to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority (Ekobrottsmyndigheten) and the Swedish War Crimes Unit (Krigsbrottsenheten), states that the suspects, including Nobel Foundation Chair Astrid Söderbergh Widding and Executive Director Hanna Stjärne, converted “an instrument of peace into an instrument of war,” through suspected “serious criminality” including:

1) Breach of trust, gross misappropriation and conspiracy in relation to the pending 11 million SEK ($1.18 million) disbursement of the Peace prize monies to Maria Corina Machado, whose prior and ongoing actions categorically exclude her from the criteria set out in Alfred Nobel's will;

2) Facilitation of war crimes, including the crime of aggression and crimes against humanity, breaching Sweden's obligations under Article 25(3)(c) of the Rome Statute, because the accused are aware of Machado's incitement and endorsement of the U.S. commission of international crimes, and knew or ought to have known that the disbursement of Nobel monies would contribute to extrajudicial killings of civilians and shipwrecked survivors at sea and are in breach of their obligation to cease disbursements.

Assange notes that the members of the Nobel Foundation have previously exercised their supervisory authority over the prizes and their disbursements by withholding Literature Prize disbursements in 2018. “Failure to intervene here, despite U.S. war crimes off the Venezuelan coast and Machado’s key role in furthering aggression” incurs criminal liability.

“Alfred Nobel's endowment for peace cannot be spent on the promotion of war,” Assange states. The accused have concrete legal obligations because they are tasked with “ensuring the fulfillment of the intended purpose of Alfred Nobel’s will, that is, to end wars and war crimes, and not to enable them.”

MACHADO'S INCITEMENT OF THE LARGEST U.S. MILITARY BUILDUP SINCE THE IRAQ WAR MAKE HER CATEGORICALLY INELIGIBLE

The complaint notes how the Nobel announcement and ceremony have occurred in what military analysts describe as “the largest U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean since the Cuban Missile Crisis”—now exceeding 15,000 personnel, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. The escalation continues as President Trump announced on December 10, two days after the Nobel ceremony, that U.S. strikes would be “starting by land.” The Venezuela strategy is part of what Trump’s Secretary for War, Peter Hegseth, calls a shift toward “maximum lethality, not tepid legality” and “going on the offence”.

Against this backdrop, Assange states that “Machado has continued to incite the Trump Administration to pursue its escalatory path”, including by entering into a conspiracy to give the U.S. administration access to $1.7 trillion in oil reserves and other natural resources through privatization once Maduro is ousted.

“Using her elevated position as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Machado may well have tipped the balance in favour of war, facilitated by the named suspects.” Assange states in the criminal complaint.

The complaint lists evidence of this incitement of U.S. military intervention, as well as praising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's conduct in Gaza. Her statements include:

- “Military escalation may be the only way... the United States may need to intervene directly” (30 October 2025)

- Machado called U.S. military strikes on civilian vessels, which have killed at least 95 people to date, “justified” and “visionary”.

- Machado dedicated the prize to U.S. President Trump, because he “finally has put Venezuela... in terms of a priority for the United States national security”

- Historical statements including 2014 testimony before U.S. Congress where she said: “The only path left is the use of force”

The filing cites extensive third-party expert and institutional opposition to Machado receiving the award:

- 21 Norwegian peace organizations declared: “Machado is the opposite of a peace laureate.”

- Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel stated: “Giving the prize to someone who calls for foreign invasion is a mockery of Alfred Nobel's will.”

- The Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) confirmed Machado “has called for military intervention in Venezuela.”

REQUESTED ACTION

The complaint notes that “There is a real risk that the funds derived from Nobel’s endowment have been or will be intentionally or negligently diverted from their charitable purpose to facilitate aggression, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.”

Assange requests that Swedish authorities:

1. Immediately freeze of the pending SEK 11,000,000 monetary prize transfer and any remaining related budget and secure return of the medal.

2. Investigate the named persons and Foundation officers and associated entities for breach of trust, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and conspiracy.

3. Seize of board minutes, emails, group chats, financial records.

4. Interrogate Widding, Stjärne and other suspects.

5. Fully investigate domestically or refer the matter to the ICC (Rome Statute Art. 25(3)(c)).

“This complaint seeks the immediate freezing of all remaining funds and a full criminal investigation lest the Nobel Peace Prize be permanently converted from an instrument of peace into an instrument of war,” Assange concludes.

The Swedish government violated its own laws by awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Venezuelan opposition figure Maria Corina Machado, according to an explosive legal brief filed by Julian Assange, the Wikileaks co-founder and former political prisoner who was hounded across the globe, confined in harsh conditions, and subjected to physical and psychological torment over the course of a decade by the US and its allies.

The Nobel committee’s decision to award Machado the Peace Prize — and the 11 million Swedish Kroner ($1.18 million USD) reward which accompanies it — means that “there is a real risk that funds derived from Nobel’s endowment have been or will be… diverted from their charitable purpose to facilitate aggression, crimes against humanity, and war crimes,” Assange stated.

The Wikileaks founder pointed to the “ample public statements… showing that the U.S. government and María Corina Machado have exploited the authority of the prize to provide them with a casus moralis for war,” adding that the explicitly stated purpose of the war sought by Machado and her wealthy Latin American backers would be “installing her by force in order to plunder $1.7 trillion in Venezuelan oil and other resources.”

The Nobel Foundation stands accused of a number of violations of Swedish criminal law, including breach of trust, misappropriation and gross misappropriation, conspiracy, crimes against international law, as well as financing of aggression, facilitation of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and breaching Sweden’s stated obligations under the Rome Statute, to which Stockholm says it is “deeply committed.”

Under Swedish law, “Alfred Nobel’s endowment for peace cannot be spent on the promotion of war,” Assange noted. “Nor can it be used as a tool in foreign military intervention. Venezuela, whatever the status of its political system, is no exception.”

By granting Nobel funds to Machado, Assange argues that the Committee is effectively financing “a conspiracy to murder civilians, to violate national sovereignty using military force…” By refusing to end payments, “they flagrantly violate Nobel’s will and clearly cross the threshold into criminality,” he alleged. The Wikileaks co-founder seeks the “immediate freezing of all remaining funds and a full criminal investigation” into Committee members who awarded the prize.

The Nobel Prizes were established in 1901 according to Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel’s last will and testament, which was later incorporated into the Swedish and Norwegian legal systems. The Peace Prize, which is meant to be bestowed on the figure who has contributed most to “fraternity between nations,” the “abolition or reduction of standing armies,” and “the holding and promotion of peace congresses,” has served as a cornerstone of Scandinavian soft power ever since.

Since its inception, however, the prize was marred by controversy due to the violent legacy of its recipients, and the political ambitions of its Norwegian sponsors. In the case of one of the Prize’s first winners, US President Theodore Roosevelt, the Norwegian Nobel Committee was criticized at the time for overlooking the American statesman’s naked warmongering in Latin America in order to curry favor with the nascent US empire. The New York Times sardonically observed that “a broad smile illuminated the face of the globe when the prize was awarded … to the most warlike citizen of these United States.”

The same dynamic is at play in the Caribbean once again, according to Assange, as the Nobel Committee crowns a Venezuelan politician best known for her unhinged appeals for foreign military intervention and her dedication of her Nobel victory to US President Donald Trump.

As Assange explained, Trump’s massive buildup of US military forces off the coast of Venezuela “has already committed undeniable war crimes, including the lethal targeting of civilian boats and survivors at sea, which has killed at least 95 people.”

“The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights labeled these U.S. coastal strikes against civilian boats “extrajudicial executions,” the Wikileaks co-founder wrote. And the “principal architect of this aggression” was none other than Trump’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who “nominated María Corina Machado for the peace prize.”

Norwegian Nobel judges tied to influential Venezuelan regime change lobbyist

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a figure as clearly unqualified as Machado – and in apparent violation of Swedish law – raised questions about whether the Committee had been influenced by powerful outside interests. Machado’s nomination for the prize by the US Secretary of State had an undeniable impact on the decision, as the Nobel ceremony serves as a central channel of Norwegian soft power. But inside Oslo, a political powerbroker determined to return to power in his family’s native Venezuela may have also played a role in swinging votes for Machado.

He is Thor Halvorssen Jr., the son of a CIA asset and wealthy Venezuelan aristocrat who held positions in neoliberal Venezuelan governments before the election of Hugo Chavez. Halvorssen is also the first cousin of Leopoldo Lopez, the author of several military coups against Chavez and Maduro, and the founder of the US government-sponsored Popular Will party which has traditionally led the way for the radical opposition.

As the founder of the Oslo Freedom Forum, a self-proclaimed human rights group which openly advocates for toppling governments targeted by the West, Halvorssen presides over a network of Western-backed regime change activists. At the 2024 Oslo Freedom Forum, Halvorssen played host to Machado, who clamored for Maduro’s removal through a video link-up from Venezuela, where she was supposedly “in hiding.” This year’s Forum featured Machado’s top advisor, the Spain-based Pedro Urruchurtu, as well as her daughter, Ana Corina Sosa. When the Nobel Committee awarded Machado with its peace prize in October, the Oslo Freedom Forum issued a press release celebrating the decision for “chang[ing] the dynamics” in Venezuela.

The Norway-based Fritt Ord Foundation is a key link between Halvorssen’s Oslo Freedom Forum and leaders of the Nobel Committee. The Oslo Freedom Forum declares on its website that Fritt Ord “was among the first to endorse” it. While providing funding to Halvorssen’s regime change outfit, Fritt Ord awarded Jorgen Watne Frydnes, the Norwegian Nobel Committee Chair, with its 2021 Freedom of Expression Tribute. During his speech awarding the Nobel Prize to Machado, Frydnes likened the right-wing coup plotter to Nelson Mandela. With geriatric members of the Norwegian royal family seated just a few feet away, he went on to call for Maduro to step down and allow Machado to preside over a “democratic” transition.

Frydnes also happens to be the former director of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a think tank focused on supporting the Ukraine proxy war, which is a formal partner and supporter of Halvorssen’s Oslo Freedom Forum.

Among the five judges who awarded Machado her prize was Kristin Clemet, a Norwegian politician who was also awarded the Fritt Ord Freedom of Expression Tribute in 2017. Clemet is the managing director of a liberal Norwegian think tank called Civita which officially partners with and supports Halvorssen’s Oslo Freedom Forum.

Who’s behind Nobel insider gambling scheme?

Even before she had officially received the award, Machado’s entourage drew accusations of corruption and illegal enrichment after a handful of insiders seemingly used advanced knowledge of her imminent win to rake in close to $100,000 on the Polymarket betting site.

The odds of Machado winning surged from 3.75% to 72.8% just hours before the Nobel Committee officially informed Machado of her victory. One unusually prescient bettor won $65,000 gambling on the Venezuelan opposition figure. “It seems we have been prey to a criminal actor who wants to earn money on our information,” said Kristian Berg Harpviken, the head of the Nobel Institute.

Months later, The Nobel committee still has yet to conclude its investigation into the corruption scandal. As of publication, the committee did not respond to a request for comment by The Grayzone.

For what promotes itself as the world’s premiere peacemaking institution, it may be too late to undo the damage wrought by giving the Nobel Prize to an avowed champion of violent regime change.

“Using her elevated position as the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, Machado may well have” already “tipped the balance in favor of war,” Assange concluded.

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Written By Max Blumenthal, The editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, an award-winning journalist and the author of several books. And Wyatt Reed, an editor at The Grayzone and an international correspondent who's covered stories in over a dozen countries.