A judge from the Northern Mariana Islands, a territory of the United States, handed down a sentence against the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assangeallowing him to return to his native Australia after he pleaded guilty to violating the US espionage law as part of an agreement with the Department of Justice.
The judge accepted the terms agreed between the Department of Justice and Assange’s defense and, in accordance with that agreement, sentenced him to 62 months in prison, but gave him credit for the time already served in the high-security Belmarsh prison (UK). Kingdom), so he will automatically be released.
“I sentence you to the time you have already served.“the judge told Assange Ramona Villagomez Manglonaof the US federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, where the hearing is being held.
The crime to which Assange pleaded guilty, for conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. documents, carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.but thanks to the plea agreement he will avoid spending more time in prison.
In this way, Assange was convicted of a single criminal charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US documents, related to the largest leak in US history in 2010, which included almost half a million documents about the wars in Iraq. and Afghanistan.
Julian Assange will return to Australia this Wednesday
Upon receiving the sentence, Assange, who He had kept a serene face throughout the entire hearing.seemed to get slightly emotional and nodded when the judge said: “It seems that this case ends with me here in Saipan,” according to the British newspaper The Guardian.
The hearing was held without television cameras in a US federal courtroom located on the island of Saipan, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean.
The Australian’s defense requested that the hearing be held in this location due to its proximity to Australia and because Assange did not wish to travel to the continental United States.
In your account on X, WikiLeaks has written that the plane on which Assange, 52, is traveling, will leave the Northern Mariana Islands for Australia at around 12:15 local time on Wednesday. (02:15 GMT). In Australia, Assange will join his wife, Stella, and his two children.
