Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange set free on plea bargain

Admin I Tuesday, June 25, 2024

 

LONDON – Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange has been sent free.

He has been on extradition trial in the United Kingdom in the past five years.

He was released after entering a plea bargain. He has left the Belmarsh Prison, London and posted his picture boarding a plane to an Island in the US

Assange is wanted by the United States for leaking strategic information about the United States.

The American government  insisted that he be extradited to the United States for trial.

But Assange had argued in court that he will not get a fair trial in the United States.

According to court papers, US prosecutors said Assange, 52, has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents.

He is due to be sentenced at a hearing on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific on Wednesday.

He is likely to be sentenced for 52 weeks which he has already served in the UK.

His lawyers will ask for pardon since his offence bothers on his practice of journalism.

In a statement announcing hus release, Wikileaks said

JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE

Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.

This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations. This created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalised. We will provide more information as soon as possible.

After more than five years in a 2×3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars.

WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles, and for the people’s right to know.

As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom.

Julian’s freedom is our freedom.