Washington – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty Wednesday to a felony count of publishing U.S. military secrets under a deal with the Justice Department that secured his freedom and concluded A manufactured legal story That raised divisive questions about press freedom and national security.
U.S. District Judge Ramona Mangalona accepted Assange's guilty plea in a federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean. He was sentenced on time, and quickly boarded a flight back to his native Australia.
Assange touched down in Australia early Wednesday evening local time, a free man, as he stepped off the plane in the capital Canberra and hugged his waiting wife, Stella Assange, and his father, John Shipton, raising his fists.
William West/AFP/Getty
The guilty plea resolved Assange's outstanding legal issues with the US government. CBS News has learned that Justice Department prosecutors have recommended a 62-month prison sentence as part of a plea deal, but he will not serve any time in U.S. custody because, under the plea deal, He received credit for the nearly five years he served. In a British prison War on extradition To America
In a letter to a federal judge on Monday, the Justice Department said Assange had opposed traveling to the continental United States to enter a guilty plea.
Who is Julian Assange?
Assange, was an Australian citizen Charged in 2019. He was indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on more than a dozen charges alleging that he illegally obtained and disseminated classified information about the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. WikiLeaks site. At the time, prosecutors accused him of recruiting individuals to “hack into computers and/or illegally obtain and disclose classified information.”
WikiLeaks via X/ via REUTERS
He pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information.
His lawyer had previously declined to comment, but in a statement posted on social media on Tuesday, WikiLeaks said Assange had been granted bail by a UK court on Monday and would then return to London. Boarded the plane at Stansted Airport and left the UK.
Noting that the deal “has not yet been officially finalized”, WikiLeaks said it would provide more information when it became possible.
“After more than five years in a 2×3 meter cell, 23 hours a day in isolation, he will soon be reunited with his wife. Stella Assangeand their children, who only know their father behind bars,” the organization said.
“Julian is free!!!!” Stella Assange said in a message posted on social media, in which she shared a video showing Assange arriving at Stansted and boarding the plane. “Words cannot express our immense gratitude to you—yes you, who have driven years and years to make this a reality.”
Julian is free!!!!
Words cannot express our immense gratitude to you—yes you, who have driven years and years to make this a reality. thank you thank you thank you
Following @WikiLeaks More info coming soon…pic.twitter.com/gW4UWCKP44
— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) June 25, 2024
What did Julian Assange do?
One of Assange's most famous recruits, a US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, was convicted in 2010 of leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive military records to WikiLeaks in what officials said was the largest disclosure of classified government records in history. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison and in 2017 by former President Barack Obama commuted his sentence.
Assange was accused of working with Manning to uncover passwords to Defense Department computer systems that contained sensitive records about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the evaluation briefs of hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. was saved.
Federal prosecutors also accused Assange of “publishing the names of individuals around the world who provided information to the U.S. government under circumstances in which they could reasonably expect their identities to be kept secret.” ”
Assange has previously denied any wrongdoing. He and his supporters argued that charges should never have been filed because he was reporting on government actions as a journalist.
How long was Julian Assange imprisoned?
Assange was placed in British custody in 2019. He launched a year-long legal effort to resist extradition to the United States to face federal charges. The guilty plea ends the Intercontinental Court fight.
In May, the WikiLeaks founder won his bid to appeal extradition to the US on espionage charges after a British court earlier this year asked the US government to ensure Assange was extradited to the US. Freedom of speech will be protected under the Constitution and that they will not be extradited to the US on espionage charges. A conviction for espionage is punishable by death.
President Biden said in April that he was “considering” Australia's request to allow Assange to return to his home country, which has called on the United States to drop its case against him.
Assange has been in legal trouble for more than a decade, beginning in 2010 when a Swedish prosecutor issued arrest warrants for two women on charges of rape and sexual assault, which Assange denies. of When he faced extradition to Sweden, he sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he lived for seven years until he was expelled in 2019.
Swedish prosecutors ended their investigation into Assange in 2017 and the international arrest warrant against him was withdrawn, but he is still wanted after refusing bail to British police when he entered the embassy. was
By early 2019, the Ecuadorian became angry with his London houseguest, accusing him of smearing his excrement on the walls and assaulting his bodyguards.
Lennon Moreno who was then president of Ecuador. said. Moreno accused Assange of being an “information terrorist” for the election Release of information “According to its ideological commitments.”
At the request of the US government, British police arrested Assange. On April 11, 2019, at the embassy after Ecuador revoked his political asylum. By then he was. Facing charges in the US Regarding the 2010 leak.
WikiLeaks was a key player in the 2016 presidential election, publishing thousands of emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee that were stolen by Russian government hackers. WikiLeaks and Assange are mentioned hundreds of times in special counsel Robert Mueller's 448-page report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, although they were not charged with their 2016 conduct.
Priscilla Saldana contributed reporting.