The years of legal wrangling surrounding Julian Assange have come to an end with a deal, and according to his supporters, the Wikileaks founder is free. This week he will plead guilty to one count of violating the US Espionage Act. According to the US prosecutor’s office, he will then no longer have to serve a prison sentence. He can return to Australia. According to Wikileaks, Assange left his British prison on Monday and flew out of the UK. The organization published a video on X on Tuesday nightwhich shows him boarding a plane at Stansted Airport.
He was released on bail by the British High Court and took his flight on Monday afternoon, Wikileaks told X“This is the result of a global campaign that has reached from grassroots organizations, press freedom activists, lawmakers and leaders from across the political spectrum to the United Nations,” the statement said.
His wife Stella Assange reposted the clip and wrote: “Julian is free!!!!” She thanked all supporters. “THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU,” Stella Assange wrote in capital letters.
His mother also thanked the many supporters who have stood up for him for years. “I am grateful that my son’s ordeal is finally coming to an end,” Australian broadcaster ABC quoted Christine Assange as saying on Tuesday. This shows “how important and powerful quiet diplomacy is.” “Many have taken advantage of my son’s situation to pursue their own goals, so I am grateful to the invisible, hard-working people who have put Julian’s well-being above all else,” she continued. “The past 14 years have obviously taken a toll on me as a mother, so I would like to thank you in advance for respecting my privacy.”
The background is a legal deal between Assange and the US justice system, which had requested the Australian’s extradition to the United States but now wants to refrain from doing so. According to court documents, the 52-year-old Australian has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and pass on classified US defense documents. This is according to documents from the US District Court in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Assange is due to appear in court there on Wednesday for a hearing. The island group is located in the western Pacific, north of Assange’s homeland of Australia, and is an external territory of the USA. He is then due to travel on to Australia. According to reports in the US media, Assange is to be sentenced to a good five years in prison, which he has already served in Great Britain. Accordingly, he would not have to begin a new prison sentence.
“Truth and Justice”
In a video, Assange’s wife called on his supporters to help him after his release. “We intend to set up an emergency fund for Julian’s health and recovery,” says Stella Assange in the clip, which was published on YouTube on Tuesday night. “I ask you, if you can, to make a contribution and help us transition into this new phase of Julian’s freedom.”
The video was reportedly recorded on June 19. In it, Stella Assange is standing in front of the London prison Belmarsh, where Assange was imprisoned. Wikileaks boss Kristinn Hrafnsson says: “If you see this, it means he is out.” Over all the years of her husband’s imprisonment, a movement has formed, said Stella Assange. She not only supports her husband, but also the values he stands for: “truth and justice.”
Opinion
:Now is the time for a deal
The British High Court has given the Wikileaks founder time for a new hearing. He should use this time to negotiate with the US justice system. The conditions for this are more favorable than ever.
Assange has been under investigation for 14 years and was imprisoned for five years
The legal case began almost 15 years ago: In 2010, Wikileaks published hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents about Washington’s wars as well as numerous diplomatic documents. The US government accuses Assange of colluding with the whistleblower Chelsea Manning is accused of stealing secret material about US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, publishing it and thereby endangering the lives of US informants. US prosecutors consider this to be a breach of confidentiality. If convicted without an agreement with the prosecution, Assange would have faced up to 175 years in prison for espionage.
His supporters, however, see Assange as a journalist who uncovered alleged war crimes. Human rights organizations, journalists’ associations, artists and politicians have long called for his immediate release.
Assange spent more than five years in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London. Before his arrest in April 2019, he had evaded law enforcement for seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. They had initially targeted him on rape charges in Sweden. However, these charges were later dropped due to a lack of evidence. He was imprisoned in London without being convicted. There he married his partner Stella, with whom he has two children.
The USA had requested his extradition, but Assange recently appealed against this. The case was actually supposed to be heard in July by the High Court in London. The High Court partially granted Assange’s request in May, thus preventing the 52-year-old from being immediately handed over to the USA. The Australian government also campaigned for the release of its citizen.
US President Joe Biden recently raised some hope in this direction. When asked whether the US would consider an Australian request to drop prosecutions against Assange, he said: “We are considering it.”
However, it is still uncertain what Assange’s future in Australia might look like. Neither his lawyer nor the Australian government have commented on this so far. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly called for Assange’s release in the past. However, he did not want to comment on an ongoing case. “Prime Minister Albanese has been clear – Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long and there is nothing to be gained by his continued detention,” said a government spokesman.