WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reaches deal with US prosecutor’s office for release | International

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has decided to plead guilty under a deal with the United States Department of Justice that will allow him to be released and return to his native Australia after spending five years in a British prison. According to court documents, Assange, 52, has pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act for his role in obtaining and publishing classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010. With this agreement, which must be approved this Wednesday, a long legal soap opera ends. “Julian Assange is free,” WikiLeaks tweeted.

A document filed on Tuesday, June 25, in the court of remote Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, states that Assange conspired to “knowingly and unlawfully obtain documents relating to the national defense” and “communicate” that information to persons who had no right to receive it.” A letter from the Justice Department registered in the same court states: “We anticipate that the defendant will plead guilty (…) to conspiring to unlawfully obtain and transmit classified information relating to the national defense of the United States.” and “he will be sentenced by the court for that crime.”

The same letter states that Assange will appear this Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. local time (1:00 p.m. in mainland Spain) before Judge Ramona Villagómez Manglona, ​​who has taken over the case shortly. According to the Justice Department, the defendant refused to appear before a court in the continental United States. According to court documents, these islands are close to Australia, where US authorities always hope Assange will go after his release.

The offence to which Assange pleads guilty carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, but the accused is expected to appear in court and serve a sentence of five years, which will be served along with the time he has spent in a British prison, meaning he will be released.

Prior to this agreement, the United States government had charged Assange with 17 offenses against the Espionage Act and one for computer interference. The Australian editor faced a maximum sentence of 170 years in prison, mainly for the leak of more than 250,000 classified documents from the US State Department in November 2010. EL PAÍS was one of the media that participated in the concerted publication effort of these papers .

Five years in prison

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Assange has been held in the high-security Belmarsh prison in southeast London for five years, and before that he spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London until his asylum was withdrawn and he was forcibly removed from the embassy and detained in April 2019. He had two children with his current wife Stella Assange during his time in the embassy. Assange has already left prison and embarked on a trip to the Mariana Islands.

The extradition process had been on hold pending Assange’s appeal. High Court judges in London considered Washington’s assurances that the WikiLeaks co-founder would receive a fair trial if sent to the United States. Last month, Assange won the right to appeal the extradition order after his lawyers argued that the US government had given “manifestly inadequate” assurances that he would receive the same freedom of expression protections as a US citizen if he was extradited from Great Britain.

Assange said the publication of confidential documents was a matter of public interest and that they were protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects freedom of expression. However, Washington said the leak endangered American sources, citizens and national security, with the documents harming the United States and its allies and helping their opponents.

A 2019 Justice Department indictment accused Assange of encouraging and helping US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files published by WikiLeaks in 2010. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison after pleading guilty to violating the Espionage Act and other offenses for leaking confidential documents to WikiLeaks. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017, allowing her release after nearly seven years behind bars.

While the Obama administration delayed bringing charges against Assange, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, appointed by Donald Trump, made the Australian’s extradition a priority. The case was criticised by press defenders and Assange supporters. Federal prosecutors argued that his conduct went far beyond a journalist gathering information, and amounted to an attempt to indiscriminately solicit, steal and publish classified documents.

United States President Joe Biden acknowledged last April that the United States was considering accepting Australia’s request to end the legal process against Julian Assange. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese supported a motion in his country’s lower house in February calling for Assange’s return.