Stockholm, Sweden - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has filed a criminal complaint against the Nobel Foundation in a bid to block the transfer of this year's cash prize to María Corina Machado.

According to a press release shared on X by WikiLeaks, Assange's lawsuit accuses 30 individuals associated with the Nobel Foundation 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 – submitted to the Swedish Economic Crime Authority and the Swedish War Crimes Unit – seeks to stop the transfer of $1.18 million to Machado for winning the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, which she has dedicated to President Donald Trump.

Trump on Tuesday announced a "total and complete blockade" on all "sanctioned oil tankers" going into and out of Venezuela. His administration has also overseen a heavy military buildup around the country and ordered air strikes on boats it alleges without proof are involved in drug trafficking.

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Machado has celebrated Trump's aggressive policy toward Venezuela, including his harsh sanctions, boat strikes, and seizure of oil tankers.

"Look, I absolutely support President Trump's strategy, and we, the Venezuelan people, are very grateful to him and to his administration, because I believe he is a champion of freedom in this hemisphere," the far-right Venezuelan opposition figure told CBS News in an interview aired on Sunday.

Assange argues in his complaint that Machado's embrace of Trump's war-like maneuvers in Latin America should disqualify her from receiving the Nobel Prize, which is intended for individuals "who shall have done 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."

"Alfred Nobel's endowment for peace cannot be spent on the promotion of war," Assange stated in the press release.

The Australian journalist said Swedish funds administrators have a duty not to transfer the prize money to Machado: "Any disbursement contradicting this mandate constitutes misappropriation from the endowment."

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Assange says any payment would violate Sweden's obligations under the Rome Statute, which states that the International Criminal Court may prosecute anyone who "aids, abets, or otherwise assists" in the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity, or crimes of aggression.

"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," the suit warns.

"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's legal action comes after he was finally released in June 2024, having pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defense information. He was imprisoned in the UK in 2019 after WikiLeaks' publication of a trove of documents on probable US war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq.