"Wikileaks Assange Pleads Guilty in Exchange for Release... Becomes a Free Man"

Final Trial on National Secret Leak Charges in US Territory Saipan
US Department of Justice and Guilty Plea Lead to Release 'Big Deal'
"Likely to Return to Home Country Australia"

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks who was indicted on charges of leaking government secrets, is set to end his 14-year exile and imprisonment. This comes after the U.S. Department of Justice agreed to recognize his time served in the UK in exchange for a guilty plea, leading to his immediate release.

According to major foreign media outlets including the Associated Press and NBC on the 26th (local time), Assange appeared in a court in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, and pleaded guilty to charges of violating the Espionage Act. The court is expected to sentence Assange to 62 months in prison. However, the time he served in Belmarsh Prison in the UK from April 2019 for five years will be credited, and he is expected to be released immediately.

[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

This measure follows Assange's negotiation with the U.S. Department of Justice regarding his sentence. According to documents submitted to the Northern Mariana Islands District Court, Assange agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information in exchange for being released after a certain period. U.S. prosecutors stated that, pending approval from the presiding judge, Assange is expected to return to his home in Australia.

Assange was indicted in 2010 for persuading U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to leak classified documents containing diplomatic cables and national defense information, which were then published on WikiLeaks. At the time, his disclosures received global support from activists advocating for freedom of the press and the public's right to know, but U.S. prosecutors regarded them as a threat to national security that violated journalistic ethics.

After spending over seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK, Assange was arrested by British authorities in 2019. He served five years locally while legal battles over his extradition to the U.S. continued. Since he was indicted on 18 charges by the Trump administration, a life sentence was likely if extradited to the U.S. Foreign media noted that holding the final trial in Saipan reflected Assange's desire to stay as far away from the U.S. mainland as possible.

The Associated Press explained, "Ultimately, both sides (Assange and the U.S. Department of Justice) can be somewhat satisfied with the outcome," noting that the DOJ resolved the protracted extradition process and legal disputes while securing a promise to destroy the leaked government secrets, and Assange avoided being taken to the U.S. mainland.

Upon news of Assange's impending freedom, his wife Stella Assange said, "Julian is free," adding, "I am happy and cannot believe it." Liz Throssell, spokesperson for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), told AFP, "We welcome Julian Assange’s release," emphasizing, "As repeatedly stated, this case raised a series of human rights concerns, and we will monitor developments in the coming days."