The judge said the WikiLeaks founder could leave the courtroom a free man. At the same time, Assange pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released from a US courtroom on Wednesday, June 16. He was charged with crimes related to the largest classified information disclosure case in American history, Reuters reports.
The judge said Assange’s case was officially closed and “he can leave the courtroom a free man.” The court considered the 14-year sentence served by the Wikileaks founder and decided that no further imprisonment was necessary. The journalist will return home to Australia. Assange pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act.
Since 2019, Assange has been in the British Belmarsh prison, where he was placed after being expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. For more than five years, Washington has been seeking London to extradite the WikiLeaks founder to the United States.
The day before it was reported that Assange had been released from prison in Britain. According to media reports, he agreed to a plea deal with the US Attorney’s Office, in which he partially pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information. US authorities will stop seeking his extradition, and he will be released after five years spent in a British prison.
Washington previously charged Assange with 18 counts, including violating the espionage law and conspiracy to hack government computers. He faces up to 175 years in prison.
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Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.