WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has safely arrived in Australia as a free man.
Before arriving in Australia, Assange appeared before the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands and pleaded guilty to one criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified national defense documents.
Though he accepted the plea deal, he maintained his belief that this journalistic activity was protected under the First Amendment.
"Working as a journalist I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information," Assange told the court. "I believed the First Amendment protected that activity but I accept that it was...a violation of the espionage statute."
Under the deal, he was sentenced to 62 months in prison, with credit for the time he has already served in Belmarsh, where he had been imprisoned for the last five years after spending seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy under questionable political asylum. The moment we’ve been hanging out for, when Julian Assange walks out of court a free man. pic.twitter.com/koWCbIL0rd
— People For Assange (@people4assange) June 26, 2024
Reuters reports, "Chief U.S. District Judge Ramona V. Manglona accepted his guilty plea, noting that the U.S. government indicated there was no personal victim from Assange's actions."
"She wished Assange, who turns 53 on July 3, an early happy birthday as she released him due to time already served in a British jail."
Assange's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said that there are “absolutely no restrictions on Julian – the case against him is over.”
After roughly three hours in the Saipan court, Assange departed for Australia. He arrived at the Canberra airport just after 7:30 p.m. local time. Upon his arrival, he embraced his father, John Shipton, and his wife, Stella Assange. #BREAKING 🚨 Watch the moment Julian Assange left the plane in Canberra and stepped foot on Australian soil | #6NewsAU pic.twitter.com/mQddSiEEfL
— 6 News Australia (@6NewsAU) June 26, 2024
Julian has not yet spoken publicly and was not present for a WikiLeaks press conference.
Stella Assange told the press, "Julian has to recover – that’s the priority. Julian will always defend human rights. He will always defend victims. He’s always done that. And that’s just part of who he is. He’s deeply principled. And he remains deeply principled. And unafraid." "Julian has to recover - that’s the priority.
Julian will always defend human rights. He will always defend victims. He’s always done that. And that’s just part of who he is.
He’s deeply principled. And he remains deeply principled. And unafraid." - @Stella_Assange pic.twitter.com/bwOGCgGARb
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 26, 2024
The Justice Department said in a press release, "The guilty plea concludes a criminal matter that dates back to March 2018, when Assange was first indicted in the Eastern District of Virginia. There, and in superseding indictments, Assange was charged with conspiring with Manning, then a 'Top Secret' U.S. security clearance holder, to further Manning’s unlawful acquisition and transmission of bulk classified information, including Manning’s use of a government computer to illegally download hundreds of thousands of classified documents and transmit them without authorization to WikiLeaks."
The press release added that Assange will be barred from entering the United States without permission.
