The desire to travel further in all aspects gives Julian Assange freedom

As talks to end the long-running prison dispute between WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the United States reached a critical stage this spring, prosecutors told his lawyers to deliver a verdict so crazy it made people think it was Looks like Monty’s series. python movie.

“Guam or Saipan?”

It was a funny story once upon a time. They were once told that their path to self-rule would likely pass through two American-held islands in the blue expanse of the Pacific Ocean.

Mr. Assange, who feared being imprisoned throughout his years in the United States, had long insisted on a condition for any plea exchange: that he never set foot inside the country. In return, the US government had demanded that Mr Assange plead guilty to a criminal charge of violating the spying operation, requiring him to appear before a federal judge.

In April, a lawyer in the Justice Branch’s Nationwide Security Section broke the impasse with a subtle solution: How about a U.S. court that wasn’t actually within the mainland United States?

Mr Assange, who was ill from five years in prison in London – where he spent 23 hours on dates on his mobile phone – briefly said the trade was the best deal he had ever been offered. Both sides settled on Saipan, within the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific, 6,000 miles from the US West Coast and about 2,200 miles from their native Australia.

This long, strange shuttle ended a very long, strange prison shuttle, which began by leading to the arrival of Mr. Assange – a determined hacker-activist who has attacked American national security and political institutions – to be celebrated alternatively. and was condemned for revealing the secrets of the case. Technologies in the 2010s.

These included material about US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, in addition to invisible cables shared between diplomats. Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, WikiLeaks pardoned thousands of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee, leading to regrettable revelations critical of the party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

But the talks that ended with Mr. Assange’s release were strangely cordial and environmentally friendly, as both sides acted with a mutual desire to end the impasse that has left Mr. Assange in limbo and the region for so long. Remained entangled for a long time. Taking into account the extradition conflict, 8 sensible negotiations with the community.

The calendar was once a huge catalyst. Last 2023, senior Justice branch officials concluded that Mr. Assange, now 52, ​​had already served a significantly longer sentence than many others convicted of cognate crimes (he could have been imprisoned for up to 62 months. Was placed in). The month of his departure fell).

Despite the fact that he was charged with 18 counts as part of an espionage operation, and served several years in prison, Mr. Assange, if extradited, tried, and convicted, would probably have received about 4 The years that would have passed if their sentences had been served were piled together, his prison group calculated in a courtroom file.

Branch officials are desperate to get rid of the difficult, time-consuming case that has made some Assange prosecutors the target of WikiLeaks supporters. One senior hon. said another factor in the talks was “Assange fatigue”.

Additionally, some officials appointed under President Biden never fully agreed with the Trump leadership’s decision to charge Mr. Assange with actions that broke the chain between espionage and legitimate disclosures made in the interest of the country. Used to reduce, Tide and former officials said.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. Lawyer Common Merrick B. Garland told Newshounds on Thursday that trade serves the country’s “best interests.”

In early 2024, leaders in Australia, including Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, began pressuring their US opposition parties to do business – not out of reconciliation with Mr Assange, or their Support for activities, however, because he had spent so many months in captivity.

“The Australian Government has consistently stated that Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long, and nothing is being achieved by his continued imprisonment,” Mr Albanese wrote on the day of his release. “We want him to be repatriated to Australia.”

On April 11, the fifth anniversary of Mr. Assange’s imprisonment, President Biden told reporters at the White House that the United States was “considering” Australia’s request to return him to his home. However, US officials said that white space played a negative role in solving the case.

Mr Assange was determined to get home at once. His wife Stella told Newshound that he was experiencing problems related to the condition and Mr Assange had spoken openly about his bouts of severe depression over the past few years. Even though he was in the absolute best of conditions, the burden of spending almost 14 years in London was a huge pressure. He lived first in the Ecuadorian Embassy as an exile, and then spent five years in Belmarsh prison in an attempt to avoid Swedish government investigation for sexual assault.

One of Mr. Assange’s lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, told an Australian TV interviewer that she believed the Australian power campaign, combined with a fresh ruling in his extradition case, would make six months of negotiations with the justice branch building There has been a change. last.

Following his death, Mr. Assange’s Washington-based prison team, led by trial attorney Barry Pollack, proposed a motion in which Mr. Assange would plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of operating a website outside the United States, and would be sentenced to one month in prison. will be given. Served.

Mr. Pollack also suggested that the government blame WikiLeaks, not its founder, as a criminal for obtaining and disseminating sensitive classified documents, as Mr. Assange did 15 years ago to former U.S. military senior analyst Chelsea. Received from Manning.

The business appealed to some prosecutors in the area, who were eager for a travel ramp. However, with internal discussions waning, senior officials are reluctant to pursue this, drafting a relatively tough counter-proposal: Mr. Assange pleading guilty to a single legal count, conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national security information. Will pleaded, a more serious offense which involved his interactions with Ms Manning.

Different vocal groups believe the oath is a blow to press freedom, although ideologically, Mr Assange had no qualms about accepting legal action on those subjects.

Rather, Ms. Robinson said in the TV interview, her initial refusal to plead guilty to a criminal charge was rooted in her reluctance to appear in a U.S. court out of fear of indefinite detention or physical attack.

“They made a rational choice,” he said.

In May, a London court ruled that Mr. Assange could appeal his extradition to the United States, subject to limited conditions. That call gave him the promise of eventual victory, although he was left in indefinite confinement until the nearest one.

Nick Vamos, the former head of extradition at the Crown Prosecution Service, which is responsible for bringing criminal cases in England and Wales, believes the decision would likely have accelerated plea trading.

However, it appears that negotiations for Mr Assange’s release are well underway. US officials said the Justice Branch had released its Saipan plan before the decision.

By June, all that remained was to arrange for an advanced prison and transportation logistics.

The Australian executive, demanding $520,000, had to arrange for a private jet to fly Mr Assange from London to Saipan and the nearest home. His group is interested in crowdsourcing repayments among supporters on social media.

The closest the case came to coordinating his release was with the British government, which quietly called a bail hearing just days before he was scheduled to board his flight to self-rule on 24 June.

Mr. Assange had a second big demand, which came into play as the saga neared its conclusion: No matter what would happen in Saipan, he intended to travel out of court a different man.

Justice Branch officials saw little chance that the judge in the case, Ramona V. Manglona, ​​would hinder business. So they took a positive stance, as part of earlier negotiations, to allow him to be released to Australia, even if he did not welcome the oath.

This was not a disease. The judge on Mangalona approved the trade without complaint, and wished him “peace” and a happy birthday on July 3, when he will turn 53.

Mr Assange set out one, modest final protest – within the restrictions imposed on him through the terms of trade.

He told the court that when speaking with Ms Manning he believed he was “acting as a journalist” – although he regretted saying he now accepted that his actions were in violation of US law. There were “violations” of

Matthew McKenzie, one of the government prosecutors most involved in the case, confirmed no.

“We reject those sentiments, but acknowledge that he believes them,” he responded.