EHe is back home after a legal odyssey lasting around 14 years: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange landed in Australia on Wednesday. The charter plane touched down at the RAAF Fairbairn air base in Canberra.
The 52-year-old had previously concluded a previously negotiated deal with the American justice system in a US court on the Mariana Islands of Saipan (a US territory in the western Pacific). “It looks like this case will end with me here in Saipan,” said Judge Ramona Manglona when announcing the verdict, summing up the developments.
The plane with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on board lands at RAAF Fairbairn Air Base
Source: dpa/Lukas Coch
Assange greets his wife Stella
Source: AFP/WILLIAM WEST
In Saipan, Assange admitted to a conspiracy to illegally obtain and publish US military secrets. Although he believes that the so-called Espionage Act, the US law against espionage on the basis of which he was charged, contradicts the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by the First Amendment, he recognizes that it can be illegal to encourage informants to provide secret information, Assange said in the courtroom.
The flight, a social media event
As the Guardian reported, Judge Ramona Villagomez Manglona said: “With this verdict, it seems that you can leave this courtroom a free man. I hope that peace will be restored.”
The lawyer joked that it might be an early birthday present for Assange: “I heard that it is your birthday next week. I hope you start your new life in a positive way,” the judge continued.
Julian Assange after landing in Canberra, Australia
Source: Getty Images/Roni Bintang
While the Guardian was still reporting on the ongoing trial against Assange from the courtroom, Wikileaks had already published a post on the X platform that was supposed to show Assange’s flight details to Australia.
According to the report, the Australian was scheduled to take off from the Northern Mariana Islands towards Canberra, Australia, at around 04:10 a.m. German time.
The contrast between the small prison cell in London’s maximum security Belmarsh prison, where the whistleblower has spent the past five years, and the Pacific dream island of Saipan – where the final act of the saga took place on Wednesday – could not have been greater. After events had unfolded rapidly since Monday, Assange found himself under blue tropical skies and near palm-fringed beaches just two days later.
He flew from London Stansted to Bangkok on Monday in a chartered plane and from there took off for the US territory on Tuesday evening. The flight number VJT199, which Wikileaks had previously mentioned on social media, had been the connection most closely watched by users worldwide for days.
“Against one of the most powerful governments in the world”
After his release, Assange’s lawyers spoke of a “historic day”. “I hope that the fact that we have succeeded today in freeing Julian Assange against all odds and against one of the most powerful governments in the world gives hope to all journalists and publishers imprisoned around the world,” said Australian human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson outside the court in Saipan.
Supporters had already expected him
Source: AFP/DAVID GRAY
Robinson thanked Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in particular for his tireless efforts on behalf of Assange, who was recently imprisoned in London for five years. The head of government has repeatedly campaigned at the highest level for a solution to the legal tug-of-war surrounding the Australian.
“It is appropriate for the judge to find, as she has done today, that further detention of Mr Assange would be neither fair nor appropriate and that it is time for him to be reunited with his family,” said his lawyer Barry Pollack. Assange has suffered enormously in his fight for free speech and freedom of the press.
175 years in prison would have been threatened
In 2006, Australian Julian Assange founded the platform Wikileaks 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 US subsequently accused Assange of stealing and publishing secret material, thereby endangering the lives of US informants.
For a long time, the US judiciary wanted to put Assange on trial for espionage charges. He would have faced up to 175 years in prison in the US. Instead, he recently negotiated a deal with the US judiciary.
The justice deal was intended to spare Assange further imprisonment in the US. The US had previously demanded his extradition from Great Britain. Instead, the 52-year-old was to be released immediately after the court session, according to US court documents published in advance.
“A good day for Assange, not a good day for press freedom”
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wants to plead guilty in part to the espionage scandal, in return he will apparently be spared further imprisonment in the USA. “This is not a good day for press freedom,” says WELT author Deniz Yücel.
Source: WELT TV / Deniz Yücel
It is the adventurous end of a years-long odyssey with many legal battles. Assange began his sentence in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London about five years ago. Before his arrest in April 2019, he evaded the reach of law enforcement authorities for seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
They had initially targeted him because of allegations of rape in Sweden. However, these charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence. While the USA demanded Assange’s extradition for years, human rights organisations, journalists’ associations, artists and politicians called for his immediate release. The Australian government also campaigned for the release of its citizen.