Julian Assange enters into guilty plea agreement with American justice

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty this week to violating US espionage law in a deal that ends his detention in Britain and allows him to return to his native Australia. marking the end of a long legal battle.

In documents filed with the District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands, a territory in the Philippine Sea belonging to the United States, American prosecutors said that Julian Assange, 52, agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to obtain and disclose US documents classified as defense secrets.

A hearing is scheduled in the archipelago on Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. (local time) to determine the sentencing of Julian Assange.

The latter should be given a prison sentence of 62 months, a sentence he has already served, and be able to leave the court free.

No comment could immediately be obtained from a lawyer for Julian Assange.

Detained for several years in a high-security British prison, Julian Assange was fighting his extradition to the United States, which wanted to bring him to justice for having committed flee on WikiLeaks military and diplomatic documents classified as defense secrets.

Under the American Espionage Act (Espionage Act”,”text”:”Espionage Act”}}”>Espionage Act), Julian Assange faced a sentence of several decades in prison.

His many supporters, who regard the Australian national as an anti-establishment hero for exposing alleged US wrongdoing and war crimes, denounced persecution.

Refugee for seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London when his legal troubles began, before being imprisoned in 2019 for not having respected the conditions of his parole, Julian Assange obtained release last month. London’s high court the right to appeal his extradition to the United States, which was accepted by the British government in 2022.

Julian Assange has left the UK

Julian Assange is free and left the United Kingdom and the high security prison near London on Monday where he had been incarcerated for five years, WikiLeaks said.

According to WikiLeaks, the 52-year-old Australian left Belmarsh prison on Monday morning, was released by British justice at London’s Stansted airport in the afternoon, from where he boarded a plane and left the United Kingdom.

Julian is free!!!exulted his wife Stella Assange, believing that words are not enough to express our immense gratitude towards those who mobilized For years so that his liberation becomes reality.

WikiLeaks published a video showing Julian Assange walking freely on the tarmac to board a plane.

In a message on X, WikiLeaks welcomed this result, resulting from a global campaign which brought together activists, legislators and leaders from all political sides, to the United Nations.

All this made it possible to create space for a lengthy period of negotiations with the U.S. Department of Justice, leading to an agreement that has not yet been formally finalizedaccording to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks released previously unseen information on government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful to accountWikiLeaks continued, as editor, Julian paid severely for these principles and for the people’s right to know.

As he returns to Australia, we thank everyone who supported us, who fought for us and who remained fully committed to the fight for his freedomadded WikiLeaks, concluding: Julian’s freedom is our freedom.

After more than five years in a cell measuring two meters by three meters, isolated for 23 hours a day, he will soon be reunited with his wife Stella and their two children, who only knew their father behind barsWikiLeaks further emphasized.

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With information from Reuters and Agence France-Presse