Saipan/Washington. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty in a US court and is leaving the court a free man.
A US court rejected the agreement between the founders of Wikileaks Julian Assange and the American judiciary in connection with allegations of espionage and its release sealed. The BBC and the British “Guardian” reported this unanimously on Wednesday (local time) at the courthouse on the Marianas island of Saipan, a US territory in the Pacific. Thus, the 52-year-old will be released in exchange for a guilty plea, after serving his sentence in Great Britain.
Assange had previously appeared before the US court in connection with Espionage allegations in a count guilty known. Assange had already made a deal with the US judiciary and, in exchange for his guilty plea, he would be released after serving his sentence.
Assange is the protagonist of a major espionage scandal. In 2006, the Australian founded the Wikileaks platform with the mission of supporting whistleblowers and bringing hidden information to light. Starting in 2010, Wikileaks published classified material from US military operations Iraq is at Afghanistan the whistleblower Chelsea Manning. O USA he later accused Assange of stealing classified material and publishing it, thereby endangering the lives of American informants.
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Assange faces up to 175 years in prison
For a long time, the American judiciary wanted to try Assange on espionage charges. Up to 175 years Detention threatened him in the USA. Instead, he recently negotiated a deal with the US judiciary and has now pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally obtain and distribute secret documents. For this, he would be sentenced to more than five years in prison by the US court on the island of Saipan on Wednesday (local time). This corresponds to the time the Internet activist has spent in a maximum security prison in London.
Through the justice agreement, Assange will have another Detention be spared in the USA. The US has so far resisted his extradition Great Britain demanded. Instead, the 52-year-old is now expected to be released immediately after the court session, according to previously published US court documents. From Saipan he should go straight to his homeland Australia trip. The hearing was therefore not held on the American continent, but in the remote territory of the USA. The Northern Mariana Islands are several thousand kilometers north of Australia.
Adventurous end to a years-long odyssey
Assange was released from custody in London on Monday, unnoticed by the public, and left Britain on a chartered plane. After a stopover in the Thai capital Bangkok he eventually flew to Saipan.
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It’s the adventurous end of a year Odyssey with lots of cool battles. Assange began his imprisonment at Belmarsh maximum security prison in London around five years ago. Before his arrest in April 2019, he had been on the run from law enforcement for seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. They initially targeted him over rape allegations in Sweden. However, these allegations were later withdrawn due to lack of evidence. While the US for years delivery Assange’s human rights organizations, associations of journalists, artists and politicians demanded his immediate release. The Australian government also campaigned for its citizen’s release.
dpa