Julian Assange: What deal did the Wikileaks founder make with the US government by which he pleaded guilty to a crime and regained his freedom

WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, pleaded guilty to the crime of espionage as part of a deal with the United States government that allowed him to regain freedom after more than a decade of legal battles.

This Wednesday (local time) Assange pleaded guilty before a federal court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the South Pacific, to the crime of conspiracy to obtain and disclose information relating to US national defense.

Assange told the court he believed the Espionage Act under which the indictment was brought contradicted his First Amendment rights to the US Constitution, but acknowledged that encouraging sources to provide classified information for publication may be illegal.

Assange was sentenced to 62 months in prison by the judge who presided over the trial, but will not spend time in US custody Because he received credit for time spent in captivity in the United Kingdom.

According to WikiLeaks sources, after the hearing Assange will fly to CanberraIn his native country Australia, whose diplomats have intervened to negotiate the agreement with Joe Biden’s government.

Assange, 52, travelled to the Northern Mariana Islands from the United Kingdom, where he spent the past five years in prison while fighting extradition to the United States, where he feared he would face a long prison sentence.

Julian Assange reached a deal with US authorities allowing him to declare himself convicted of violating the Espionage Act,

US prosecutors originally wanted to prosecute Assange on 18 charges, mostly under the Espionage Act, for WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of confidential US military documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

In a statement detailing 18 charges, in 2019, Washington accused the WikiLeaks founder of conspiring to illegally access US military databases to obtain sensitive information.

Assange has always denied the allegations and said the leaks were part of his job as a journalist.

However, this Wednesday Assange only responded to one allegation.

Justice Department prosecutors recommended Sentenced to 62 months in prison following guilty pleaBut under the agreement, Assange will not spend any time in a US prison. He He will be credited with about five years he spent in prison in the United Kingdom,

Assange’s lawyers said their client could have faced up to 175 years in prison if he had been convicted of the original 18 offences, although the US government said a sentence of four to six years was more likely.

In a letter made public by the US Justice Department, it is suggested that Assange did not trust himself to travel to the continental United States to plead guilty.

WikiLeaks founder deeply distrusts US governmentTo such an extent that he has allegedly accused his officers of planning to murder him.

Furthermore, it logically makes sense to hold hearings on the islands because They are relatively close to Australia.About 3,200 kilometres away.

In the early hours of Tuesday morning in the United Kingdom, WikiLeaks published a statement on X.

The statement said Assange’s release was “the result of a global campaign” that “created space for long-term negotiations with the US Department of Justice.”

He further explains that “Wikileaks publishes revealing stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful to account for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian paid a hard price for these principles and for the people’s right to know.”

The platform is currently run by Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson.

Hrafnsson reiterated that Assange’s plea “is the result of a long, protracted process.”

“It has been a hard battle,” Hrafnsson said, stressing that the focus now is on reuniting Assange with his family.

He said the campaign to free Assange had gained momentum in the past two weeks, following the increased involvement of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and the Supreme Court in London giving Assange permission to appeal against his extradition to the United States.

BBC legal analyst Joshua Rosenberg explains These types of agreements are common and that it is not uncommon for US authorities to accept a guilty plea to a crime in exchange for granting the accused his or her freedom.

Stella Assange, the WikiLeaks founder’s wife, told Reuters news agency she would seek a pardon following her husband’s expected guilty plea.

She said her husband’s prosecution under the Espionage Act was a “very serious concern” for journalists around the world.

Any future pardons would have to be granted by the President of the United States.

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