Wikileaks chief Julian Assange mentioned on Tuesday a staffer for the Democratic National Committee that was gunned down in Washington in July while discussing the risks taken by some of his sources.
“Whistleblowers go to significant efforts to get us material and often [take] very significant risks … a 27 year-old, works for the DNC, was shot in the back, murdered just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington,” Assange said in an interview on a Dutch television station, referring to Seth Rich, a DNC staffer who was shot multiple times on a nighttime walk in Washington, D.C.
“That was just a robbery, I believe. Wasn’t it?” the program host responded. “What are you suggesting?”
Assange responded, “No. There’s no finding. So … I’m suggesting that our sources take risks.”
However, Assange declined to confirm whether Rich played a role in information Wikileaks obtained from the servers of the DNC, prompting the host to ask, “Why make the suggestion about a young guy being shot in the streets of Washington?”
“Because we have to understand how high the stakes are in the United States,” Assange said. “Our sources face serious risks. That’s why they come to us. So we can protect their anonymity.”
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2597725
“I think it is a concerning situation,” Assange. added. “There isn’t a conclusion yet. We wouldn’t be willing to state a conclusion. But we are concerned about it. More importantly, a variety of Wikileaks sources are concerned when that kind of thing happens.”
Rich was killed in what police have suggested was a botched robbery in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington. Though it sits about one mile from the nation’s Capitol, the neighborhood is also largely a safe haven for criminal activity, and killings are commonplace.
Police have no known leads, but are offering a reward of up to $25,000 for information in the case. Earlier in the day, Wikileaks offered a separate reward of $20,000.
