Julian Assange released after U.S. plea deal

Julian Assange, 53, founder of the website WikiLeaks, was charged with espionage after releasing a large trove of classified U.S. government documents in 2010. He has concluded his over decade-long evasion of extradition to the United States. Assange has agreed to serve his sentence by acknowledging his guilt and having already spent more than five years in a British prison.

According to documents cited by The Washington Post and other sources on Monday, Assange is set to appear in a court in Saipan, a U.S. territory, in two days to formally plead guilty. The court is expected to sentence him to 62 months, crediting his incarceration in the U.K. from April 2019 until June 23 this year as time served. Following his release from a British prison on Monday, Assange is anticipated to be freed upon passing through Saipan and will return to his home country, Australia.

Assange had spent nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London before his asylum was revoked in 2019, following deteriorating relations with the Ecuadorian government, leaving him without refuge. Subsequently, the Trump administration charged him with 18 counts, including violations of the Espionage Act of 1917 and espionage activities, leading to his arrest by British authorities. Assange was then held in a British prison.

Although he had appeared to be on the verge of immediate extradition to the U.S., the British courts intervened, leading to a protracted legal battle. Assange's legal team argued that he could face up to 175 years in prison if extradited to the U.S., a claim that the British courts found persuasive, ruling that such a punishment would be excessively harsh. The U.S. legal system requires defendants to appear in court and admit guilt for sentences to be imposed. After more than five years of incarceration and legal wrangling, the case has finally been resolved through an agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Assange.


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