WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from Belmarsh prison after a lengthy legal battle, marking a major development in his quest for freedom. He’s agreed to plead guilty to leaking US national security secrets in exchange for returning to his native Australia, avoiding extradition to the US and potentially lengthy imprisonment. Assange’s release follows years of confinement, during which WikiLeaks continued to expose government corruption globally. His case sparked an international outcry and involved negotiations with the US Department of Justice, culminating in a deal that allowed him to reunite with his family after more than a decade behind bars.
Wikileaks has published the first film of Julian Assange as a free man, coming from Belmarsh prison appearing triumphant and euphoric and shortly after boarding a plane to Australia…
The official statement from WikiLeaks is as follows:
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.
Below is a video statement from his wife, Stella Assange:
In a startling change of events, Julian Assange will plead guilty to leaking US national security secrets and return to Australia as part of a deal with Biden’s DOJ that will put an end to the WikiLeaks founder’s nearly 15-year legal nightmare.
After spending more than a decade holed up and imprisoned in London, primarily to avoid being extradited to the United States, Assange, 52, is expected to be sentenced to time served (62 months in a Belmarsh prison – a high-security facility in South-East London) during a court appearance Wednesday in Saipan, in the US Northern Mariana Islands, avoiding a potentially lengthy sentence in an American prison.
The Wall Street Journal reported in March that prosecutors had been in talks with Assange to resolve the 2019 case, with one sticking point being Assange’s determination to never return to the United States.
Typically, defendants must appear in court in person to make a criminal plea.
According to the Journal, Assange’s staff considered pleading guilty to a misdemeanor, allowing him to enter the plea remotely.
The Justice Department and Assange’s legal team established an agreement in which Assange would not have to fly to suburban Virginia, where the original case was lodged, but prosecutors could still obtain a felony plea, according to the people.
According to The FT, the arrangement intends to end an extraordinary standoff between the Department of Justice and Assange, who has become one of the world’s most controversial champions for government openness and whose legal issues have spanned many countries.
The plea agreement also provides a simple answer to what had become a growing political headache for the United States government.
Earlier this year, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed confidence that the United States may find a solution to resolve the case against Assange, and parliamentarians in the country passed a motion allowing Assange to return to his land. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also stepped in, arguing that British courts should not extradite Assange to the United States. Alice Jill Edwards, the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, argued in February that Assange should not be extradited to the United States to stand trial, citing his “depressive disorder” and the likelihood of being kept in solitary confinement.
Finally, while this is fantastic news for Assange and his family, as well as for journalistic freedom everywhere, we can’t help but wonder if this remarkable outcome would have transpired if Biden hadn’t gone into the first debate with Trump with his poll numbers in the toilet…
Last year, GreatGameIndia reported that David Morales spied on Julian Assange’s meetings with his lawyers and shared the information with the CIA. During Assange’s case, a 250 GB CIA folder was found on Morales’s MacBook.