WASHINGTON — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange He plans to plead guilty to conspiracy charges this week as part of a deal with the US Justice Department that would allow him to be released after five years in a British prison. court documents.
Court documents say Assange was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information — a criminal information that usually means a plea deal. A letter Justice Department official Matthew McKenzie told U.S. District Judge Ramona Manglona of the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands that Assange will appear in court at 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday (or 7 p.m. ET on Tuesday) to plead guilty, and said . The DOJ expects Assange to return to his country of citizenship, Australia, after the proceedings.
The US charges against Assange stem from one of the largest leaks of classified information in American history during the first term of Barack Obama’s presidency. Beginning in late 2009, according to the government, there was a conspiracy with Assange Chelsea Manninga military intelligence analyst must release tens of thousands of action reports on the war in Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of reports on the war in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of State Department cables, and Guantanamo detainee evaluation briefings using WikiLeaks.
Court documents detailing Assange’s claim were filed Monday evening in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean. Assange was expected to appear at that trial and receive a 62-month sentence for time served in a British prison, meaning he could return to his native Australia.
Assange was was held spent five years in high-security Belmarsh prison outside London and previously seven years in exile at the Ecuadorian embassy in London — he is said to be the father of two children — until his asylum was revoked and he was forcibly removed carried out by the embassy and was arrested in April 2019. A replaces the indictment Assange was returned more than five years ago in May 2019 and a second superseding indictment returned In June 2020.
Assange has been fighting extradition to the United States for more than a decade. London High Court in March allowed him For a full hearing on his complaint when he seeks assurances that he can rely on the First Amendment in a United States proceeding. Two judges at the High Court in May he said he may have a full hearing on whether he has been discriminated against in the United States because he is a foreign national. There were hearings on Assange’s free speech rights is planned July 9-10.
Assange at WikiLeaks has been published Hacked Democratic National Committee emails that nullified the 2016 presidential election. Later, Russian scouts accused In a 2018 hacking case brought by then-special counsel Robert Mueller. A few days later, at a joint press conference with then-President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump contradicted the indictment and the intelligence community, saying that Putin “extremely strong and powerful in its denialHe said the Russians interfered in the 2016 election to help him win.
Manning was sentenced to 35 years in military prison, but his sentence was commuted by Obama In the last days of his presidency in 2017. Manning was then held in contempt of court for nearly a year after refusing to answer questions from a grand jury; it was then was released then one attempted suicide.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call or write Call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline or have a live chat 988lifeline.org. You can also visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional support.
Daniel Barnes contributed.