U.S Justice System Accepts Guilty Plea from Assange; Wikileaks Reports His Freedom
Julian Assange, known for his work with WikiLeaks, is facing allegations of leaking around 700,000 secret documents about US military and diplomatic activities since 2010. These documents contained classified info about wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including reports of civilian casualties and mistreatment of prisoners by US troops.
Documents unveiled early Tuesday indicate that Assange would admit to one conspiracy charge, involving obtaining and spreading info for national security purposes. Assange is set to appear before a US Federal Court in a Pacific territory on Wednesday at 9:00 am (local time, 1:00 am EST).
With this potential sentence, Assange, who has already served 52 months in the UK prison, could return to his native land, Australia.
WikiLeaks confirmed Assange's departure from the British prison he'd been in since 2019. In a post, they declared, "Julian Assange is free!" They shared a 13-second video of Assange stepping onto an airplane.
Stella Assange, his wife, expressed her joy on X, stating, "Julian is free!!". The Australian government endorsed the outcome but showed annoyance at the prolonged legal process.
Assange spent a decade behind bars. For seven years, he sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and an additional five years in the high-security British prison Belmarsh.
This settlement occurs just two weeks before a significant British court hearing starting on July 9. During the proceedings, the possibility of Assange's extradition to the US was to be debated. After a court decision in June 2022, the British government consented to Assange's extradition. In the US, he could potentially face sentencing of up to 175 years under the Espionage Act.
