Gambiaj.com – (Mariana Islands, US) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison in the United Kingdom and is on his way home to Australia after agreeing to plead guilty to a single charge of breaching U.S. espionage laws. Assange, 52, will plead guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents, according to a filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. However, due to the time he has already spent in custody in the UK, he is entitled to immediate release.
“Julian Assange is free,” Wikileaks said in a statement posted on X.
“He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stanstead airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.”
“Julian is free!!!!” wife Stella wrote on X. “Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU – yes, YOU, who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true. THANK YOU. tHANK YOU, THANK YOU.”
The court filings, made public on Monday, reveal that Assange will enter his plea in the U.S. District Court in the Northern Mariana Islands, reflecting his reluctance to return to the continental U.S. This resolution marks a significant diplomatic success for the Biden administration, which faced pressure from Australia, a crucial ally, to resolve Assange’s protracted legal limbo.
Assange’s legal saga began in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a vast trove of classified U.S. military and diplomatic documents leaked by Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. The releases included videos of military airstrikes and a significant number of diplomatic cables, causing substantial controversy and making Assange a hero to anti-war activists. The complexity of his case increased in 2016 when WikiLeaks published emails from the Democratic National Committee, leading to accusations of collaboration with Russian intelligence, which Assange denied.
Assange’s legal troubles were further compounded by sexual assault allegations in Sweden in 2010, leading him to seek asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012. After seven years, he was arrested in 2019, leading to his detention in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in London, where he has remained while fighting extradition to the U.S.
The plea deal ends years of complex legal battles across multiple jurisdictions. Assange’s sentence under this agreement is comparable to those of other high-profile leakers, such as Chelsea Manning and NSA analyst Reality Winner. Despite the controversial nature of his actions, this agreement allows Assange to return home, ending over a decade of legal strife.
