Assange’s plane took off for Canberra shortly after, after which the 52-year-old walked out of a US Pacific court and pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and declassify US national defense documents.
The US District Judge’s ruling on Ramona Manglona sentenced her to five years and two months in prison – life she would otherwise spend in prison in Britain fighting extradition to the US – and said she is free to move on.
“With this declaration, it appears that you will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man,” the judge said on Wednesday.
“I can’t stop crying,” his wife Stella wrote on social media platform X.
The Australian man flew in from the United Kingdom on a private plane and smiled as he entered court in a drab suit, loosely tied around his collar, along with other members of his prison team. Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, a former high minister.
Inside, they answered the judge’s crude questions and listened as business phrases were mentioned.
Addressing the court, Assange said that he believed the espionage office under which he was charged violates the First Amendment rights in the U.S. Charter, but he acknowledged that for the e-newsletter Incentivizing resources to hand over labeled data may be illegal.
Based on his plea, he will be expected to destroy the information he provided to WikiLeaks.
Julian walked out of the Saipan federal court with a different man. I won’t be able to resist crying.#Assangefree #asanjjet pic.twitter.com/Uee3uKceg0
-Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) 26 June 2024
Prosecutors said Saipan was chosen for the court appearance due to Assange’s opposition to travel to the mainland US, as well as its proximity to his home in Australia.
A further flight agenda shared by WikiLeaks confirmed their flight arriving in Canberra at 7:39 pm (09:39 GMT).
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the hearing was a “welcome development”.
He said Australia had taken “all appropriate avenues” to bring about a “positive outcome” in the case, adding that Rudd had sided with Assange.
“Whatever your views about Mr. Assange, his case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained from his continued detention and we want him returned to Australia,” Albanese told reporters in Canberra.
Following the judge’s decision, an adviser to Assange said the WikiLeaks founder would no longer comment or raise questions. His lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, said it was a “historic day” and thanked Albanese for helping make Assange’s free trial possible.
Former Ecuadorian diplomat Fidel Narváez, who granted Assange political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012, told Al Jazeera that he felt “overwhelmed with joy” that Assange was granted immunity.
“I am certainly celebrating,” Narvaez said, adding that Assange has faced “persecution by the most powerful country in the world” for 14 years, as well as being disowned by his own country.
Narvaez said that if Assange had been presented with this impeachment plea years earlier, he certainly would not have accepted it, noting that it would have created a precedent that would discourage others from repeating his actions. Can do.
“Who would want to repeat what Julian Assange and WikiLeaks did if they knew what was going to happen to them for publishing the truth? It’s not a perfect picture, but Julian is free and I think the world is a much better place today than it was yesterday,” Narvaez said.
Assange’s other lawyer, Barry Pollack, said his client was the victim of injustice.
“The prosecution of Julian Assange is unprecedented,” he told reporters outside court.
“In 100 years of the Espionage Act, it has never been used by the United States to pursue a publisher, a journalist, like Mr. Assange. “Mr. Assange disclosed true, important, and newsworthy information, including the revelation that the United States committed war crimes, and suffered tremendous losses.”
The court appearance in the 14-year battle over the fate of Assange and his autonomy is the overall bankruptcy of Assange, a computer expert whose widely published secret-sharing website WikiLeaks made him a cause celebrity among press autonomy advocates, who said he Acted as. Journalist to expose US military wrongdoing.
Assange spent more than five years in a high-security prison in Britain and seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, as he fought charges of sex crimes in Sweden, which were soon dismissed, and in the United States. Fought extradition, where he faced 18 criminals. Fees.
Assange’s supporters see him as a victim because he exposed the crimes of the US military in its conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington has said that the disclosure of hidden documents puts people’s lives in danger.
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