After a long legal plot full of international intrigue and multiple plot twists, the agreement reached with the US by the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, will set him free in exchange for a guilty plea that carries a sentence that I would consider it fulfilled.
The plane from London that carried Julian Assange landed in Bangkok this Tuesday to refuel, while the founder of WikiLeaks was on his way to sign a plea agreement with the United States Governmentwhich will free him and put an end to a legal case that has spanned many years and several continents for the publication of a huge amount of classified documents.
What does the agreement with the US consist of and what are the next steps?
According to agreement reached with the US Department of JusticeAssange will plead guilty to one count of conspiracy, according to the Espionage Lawto illegally obtain and disseminate classified national defense information.
The agreement guarantees that Assange will admit his guilt and at the same time avoid an additional prison sentence. Assange is expected to be sentenced to five years already spent in a British prison while fighting extradition to the US to face charges, a process that took place in a series of hearings in London and that would count towards the judgmentwhat it would therefore be considered fulfilled.
Last month, won the right to appeal an extradition order after his lawyers argued that the US government provided guarantee“blatantly inappropriate” that he would have the same free speech protections as a US citizen if extradited from the United Kingdom.
Assange is expected to return to his home country, Australia, after his declaration and sentence. The hearing will take place in Saipan, in the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands (in the Western Pacific), due to Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental US and the court’s proximity to Australia, according to prosecutors.
The last episodes of the Assange case
The Australian had passed hidden in the Ecuadorian Embassy for several years in London after Swedish authorities requested his arrest over rape allegations, although in June 2022 the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office abandoned that investigation. But in April 2019Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno blamed WikiLeaks for recent corruption allegations, and the Government of Ecuador revoked asylum status by Assange. The London Police He then took him out of the Ecuadorian embassy and arrested him. for violating bail conditions in 2012, as well as on behalf of US authorities.
The following month Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012, and the US Government accused him of 18 charges for the publication of classified documents by WikiLeaks.
Prosecutors said he conspired with the US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In June 2022he British government ordered Assange’s extradition to the US., which the founder of Wikileaks appealed. Now, Assange has just finally come out of the London high security prison in which he was in custody since 2019.
What have you been accused of and how did it all start?
The guilty plea, which must be approved by a judge, abruptly ends a criminal case of international intrigue and a years-long persecution by the US government.
The Australian publisher, whose popular WikiLeaks portal founded in 2006 to share secrets made him a celebrity among many press freedom advocates, he said he acted as a journalist to expose US military irregularities. But investigators, on the contrary, have repeatedly asserted that his actions violated laws intended to protect confidential information and put the country’s national security at risk.
In a statement posted on social media platform WikiLeaks applauded the announcement of the agreement and said he was grateful for “everyone who supported us, fought for us and remained absolutely committed to the fight for their freedom.”
Assange has been hailed by many around the world as a hero who exposed military irregularities in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the files released by WikiLeaks was a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by US forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists. But his reputation has also been tarnished by rape allegations, which he has denied.
The Justice Department indictment unsealed in 2019 accused Assange of encouraging and helping U.S. military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published in 2010. Prosecutors had accused Assange of harm national security by publishing documents that harmed the US and its allies. In a series of posts, WikiLeaks published almost half a million documents in 2010 related to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The later legal persecution was criticized by press defenders and supporters of Assange. Federal prosecutors said, however, that his conduct went far beyond that of a journalist gathering information, which they said amounted to an attempt to indiscriminately solicit, steal and publish classified government documents.
The plea deal comes months after US President Joe Biden, said it was considering an application from Australia to abandon the US attempt to prosecute Assange. The White House was not involved, however, in the decision to resolve the Assange case, according to an official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case and spoke to the AP agency on condition of anonymity.
