WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge related to his role in one of the largest breaches of classified US government material. As part of the deal with the Justice Department, Assange will avoid imprisonment in the United States, according to newly filed federal court documents.
Under the terms of the agreement, prosecutors will seek a 62-month sentence, equivalent to the time Assange has already served in a high-security prison in London while fighting extradition to the US. This plea deal credits that time served, allowing Assange to return immediately to Australia, his home country.
Release from UK Prison
Assange’s release from the UK prison was confirmed by WikiLeaks on Monday morning. “Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1,901 days there,” WikiLeaks stated. Assange was granted bail by the High Court in London and boarded a plane at Stansted airport, departing the UK in the afternoon.
Upcoming court proceedings
A federal judge in the Northern Mariana Islands has scheduled a plea hearing and sentencing for Wednesday morning, according to the US District Court there. Prosecutors requested the proceedings to occur on the same day, as Assange was reluctant to set foot in the continental US for his guilty plea. The court in the islands, near Australia, will allow Assange to return to his home country after the hearing.
Assange was pursued by US authorities for publishing confidential military records supplied by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 and 2011. He faced 18 counts from a 2019 indictment for his alleged role in the breach, carrying a maximum sentence of up to 175 years in prison. US officials accused Assange of encouraging Manning to obtain thousands of pages of unfiltered US diplomatic cables, Iraq war-related reports, and information on Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Negotiations and legal challenges
In recent months, President Joe Biden hinted at a possible deal pushed by Australian government officials to return Assange to Australia. FBI and Justice Department officials opposed any deal without a felony guilty plea from Assange. Last month, a UK court ruled in Assange’s favor, allowing him to appeal his final challenge against extradition to the US, marking a significant win in his long fight to avoid prosecution in the States.