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Julian Assange ends standoff with US, swapping guilty plea for felony charge for his freedom
![Julian Assange ends standoff with US, swapping guilty plea for felony charge for his freedom](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/2024-06-26t034823z-247971666-rc2ri8a9pqon-rtrmadp-3-usa-assange.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_800,c_fill)
Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands
CNN
–
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was freed for the first time in 12 years after a US judge signed off on his surprise plea deal on Wednesday morning.
Assange walked out of the courtroom a free man into the bright sunshine of Saipan, raising one hand to a roar from the world press before driving to the airport where he caught a flight to the Australian capital Canberra.
Speaking outside court, Assange's US lawyer Barry Pollack said he had suffered immensely in his fight for freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
The prosecution of Julian Assange is unprecedented in the 100 years of the Espionage Act, Pollack told reporters. Mr. Assange disclosed true and newsworthy information We firmly believe that Mr. Assange Assange should never have been charged under the Espionage Act and engaged in (an) exercise that journalists do every day.
In a stunning turn of events, the 52-year-old Australian was released from a high-security prison in London on Monday afternoon and had already boarded a private jet to leave the UK before the world knew about the deal. his with the USA. government.
He appeared in a US courtroom in the Northern Mariana Islands to formalize the deal, formally pleading guilty to conspiracy to illegally obtain and distribute classified information over his alleged role in one of the world's largest material breaches. classified in American military history.
I am, in fact, guilty as charged, Assange told the court in Saipan.
The remote Pacific island chain is a US territory located about 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) west of Hawaii.
Assange – who has long had a deep distrust of the US, even going so far as to accuse it of allegedly conspiring to kill him – was hesitant to set foot in the continental US, and so prosecutors requested that all proceedings take place in one day in a US federal court based in Saipan, the largest island and capital of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Justice Department prosecutors also said the trial in the islands made logistical sense since it is closer to Australia, where Assange will eventually travel after his legal battle ends.
Kevin Rudd, Australia's ambassador to Washington and a former prime minister who helped facilitate negotiations with the US, watched the proceedings in the courtroom.
![WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaves United States District Court after a hearing in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, June 26, 2024.](https://i0.wp.com/media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/2024-06-26t034823z-247971666-rc2ri8a9pqon-rtrmadp-3-usa-assange.jpg?resize=740%2C493&ssl=1)
At the start of the plea deal hearing, the judge reminded Assange that he was back in the United States and that this court was the smallest, newest and furthest from the nation's capital. Assange looked relaxed in the courtroom, wearing a black jacket and brown tie, as he stood by his lawyers.
Asked by the judge, the Honorable Ramona Manglona, to describe what he had done to be charged, Assange said: Working as a journalist, I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information . I believe that the First Amendment protected that activity, I believe that the First Amendment and the Espionage Act conflict with each other, but I recognize that it would be difficult to win such a case given all of these circumstances.
In sentencing her, the judge said Assange was entitled to credit for time served for his incarceration in a British prison.
It seems your 62-month sentence is fair and reasonable, Manglona said. You will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man. I hope some peace will be restored.
The judge told Assange that time is of the essence and she would have been less inclined to accept a guilty plea 10 years ago. She also said there were no personal casualties in the case and Assange's action did not result in any known physical injury.
For years, the US argued that the self-appointed champion of free speech endangered lives and posed a threat to national security.
After his release, the US Department of Justice said in a statement that Assange is not allowed to return to the US without permission, in accordance with the plea agreement.
Assange and his whistleblower website rose to global prominence in 2010 following a series of leaks by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
![Members of the media surround the vehicle of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he leaves the US Federal Courthouse in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, on June 26, 2024.](https://i0.wp.com/media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/gettyimages-2158715815.jpg?resize=740%2C493&ssl=1)
The website posted a video showing a US military helicopter shooting and killing two journalists and several Iraqi civilians in 2007. A few months later, it released more than 90,000 classified Afghan war documents dating back to 2004.
Later in 2010, he was wanted in Sweden to answer questions about allegations of sexual assault that had surfaced.
Two years later, Assange sought political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in west London. He remained there for almost seven years until the Metropolitan Police entered his safe haven in 2019 acting on an extradition warrant from the US Department of Justice. British officers moved after Ecuador withdrew its asylum and invited authorities to the embassy, citing Assange's misconduct.
He originally faced 18 criminal charges related to his organizations releasing massive amounts of sensitive information into the public domain.
Instead, as part of a deal brokered with the Justice Department, Assange pleaded guilty to a single criminal charge.
His sentence was 62 months in prison, but he will not spend any time behind bars in the US, as the sentence is equivalent to the five years he fought extradition while incarcerated in London's Belmarsh Prison.
The US-brokered deal is the latest act in a 14-year legal drama that has spanned continents, although it was not immediately clear why it reached a settlement now.
Pictured: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
Australian officials have been pushing diplomatic approaches for some time. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was widely thought to have raised Assange's case when he visited the White House last October.
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, the Australian leader said he was pleased that (Assange) was on his way to Australia to be reunited with his family.
This result has been the product of careful, patient and determined work, Albanese said, adding that this is what the attitude looks like for Australians around the world.
Regardless of your views on his activities, and they will vary, Mr. Assange's case has dragged on for a long time. I have repeatedly told him that there was nothing to gain from his continued imprisonment, Albanese said.
US President JoeBidenhad in recent months hinted at a possible deal pushed by Australian government officials to return Assangeto Australia. However, the administration distanced itself from the developments on Tuesday.
ASSANGE: KEY MOMENTS
- 2006: Julian Assange founded a whistleblower website, WikiLeaks.
- April 2010: WikiLeaks publishes video showing a US helicopter killing civilians in Iraq in 2007.
- July 2010: WikiLeaks publishes classified documents related to the war in Afghanistan.
- August 2010: Sweden launches investigation into Assange after allegations of sexual assault emerged, which he denies.
- June 2012: Assange enters the Ecuadorian embassy in London seeking political asylum.
- April 2019: British police arrest Assange on behalf of the US, seek his extradition after Ecuador withdraws asylum.
- June 2022: The UK Home Secretary signs his extradition order, which he later appeals.
- May 2024: Assange wins permission to make new extradition appeal.
- June 2024: Assange reaches US plea deal allowing him to leave UK prison and return to Australia.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson told CNN on Tuesday that this was an independent decision made by the Justice Department and there was no White House involvement in the plea deal decision.
Despite this, Assange's wife, Stella, said on Tuesday that she was delighted at the news that her husband was free from Belmarsh.
Honestly, it's just incredible. I do not know. It doesn't seem real, she told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. She spoke from Australia, where she flew with their two children on Sunday morning before Assange's release. She said she had not yet told their young children why they had traveled to their father's homeland.
Assange's half-brother Gabriel Shipton told CNN it's an important day for Assange now that he has been released from a British prison after accepting a plea deal with the US. He added that his brothers' work had changed the world.
He said Assange is excited to be a free man again and is looking forward to doing normal things he has been unable to do after being held in a maximum security prison for the past five years. He said his brother enjoys watching Australian birds, swimming in the ocean and sharing a meal with his wife and children.
The work that WikiLeaks and the work that Julian did now is historic, Shipton said.
The collateral killing video that exposed Reuters journalists being killed by a helicopter in Baghdad. I think these are historical moments, historical publications that went around the world, the torture at Guantanamo Bay, as well as the corruption in the banking system, the dumping of toxic waste. This is a legacy of WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, he added.
Once the WikiLeaks founder arrives in Australia, one thing on his to-do list will be paying his government for the trip home. Assange will owe $520,000 for the charter flight, according to the international campaign that called for his release.
To cover the alleged expenses as well as other funds for his recovery, the campaign has launched an appeal, asking supporters for donations.
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