Julian Assange was released yesterday and left the United Kingdom and the maximum security prison near London, where he had been detained for five years. WikiLeaks announced this after the news of the guilty plea agreement reached with the American justice system. Assange was accused of having published approximately 700,000 classified documents relating to the military and diplomatic activities of the United States, starting from 2010.
The guilty plea
The founder of WikiLeaks has agreed to plead guilty to a single charge for which he should serve 64 months in prison which will however be offset against those already spent in prison, effectively becoming a free man as soon as the agreement reached with the Department of Justice USA will be ratified by a federal judge.
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Assange, new work by Laika dedicated to the journalist in London
Stella Assange: “Thanks to those who mobilized”
“Julian is free!!!!” His wife, Stella Assange, also writes on Facebook. “Words cannot express our immense gratitude to you, yes to you who have mobilized for years and years to make this true. Thank you, thank you, thank you”, she adds. In a video message the woman once again thanked “the incredible movement that supports her husband.
“His ordeal is coming to an end” Julian Assange’s mother also commented, according to Australian media reports, after the news of his release from prison and the agreement reached with the US Department of Justice.
Assange will appear before a judge in the Mariana Islands
Assange will appear before a judge in America as part of a plea deal that should give him freedom and the chance to return to his native Australia. The 52-year-old agreed to plead guilty to the single charge of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defense information, according to a document filed in court in the Northern Mariana Islands. He is expected to appear in court Wednesday morning local time.
