Espionage scandal: Julian Assange pleads guilty in US court

Assange is the protagonist of a major espionage scandal. In 2006, the Australian founded the Wikileaks platform with the mission of supporting whistleblowers and bringing hidden information to light. From 2010 onwards, Wikileaks published secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by whistleblower Chelsea Manning. The USA subsequently accused Assange of stealing and publishing secret material, thereby endangering the lives of US whistleblowers.

For a long time, the American judiciary wanted to try Assange on espionage charges. He could have faced up to 175 years in prison in the USA. Instead, however, he negotiated a deal with the US judiciary and has now pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified documents. He was due to be sentenced to more than five years in prison by the US court on the island of Saipan on Wednesday (local time). This corresponds to the length of time the internet activist has already spent in a high-security prison in London.

The judicial deal should spare Assange further imprisonment in the USA. The USA had previously demanded his extradition from the UK. Instead, the 52-year-old should now be released immediately after the court session, according to previously published US court documents. He was to travel directly from Saipan to his home country of Australia. The court hearing was therefore not held on the American mainland, but in the remote US territory. The Northern Mariana Islands are several thousand kilometers north of Australia.

Assange had already been released from custody in London on Monday, unnoticed by the public, and left the UK on a chartered plane. After a stopover in the Thai capital Bangkok, he finally flew on to Saipan.

It is the adventurous end to a year-long odyssey with many legal battles. Assange began his imprisonment in the maximum security Belmarsh prison in London around five years ago. Before his arrest in April 2019, he had spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, evading law enforcement authorities. They had initially targeted him over allegations of rape in Sweden. However, these accusations were later dropped due to a lack of evidence. While the USA demanded Assange's extradition for years, human rights organizations, journalists' associations, artists and politicians called for his immediate release. The Australian government also campaigned for the release of its citizen.