The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, will be released after pleading guilty to a serious offense in an agreement with the United States Department of Justice, and is expected to return to Australia afterwards.
According to court documents filed on Monday, this guilty plea agreement ends a lengthy legal saga that spanned several continents and focused on the publication of classified documents, reported the AP agency.
Assange will appear in federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a Commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific, on Wednesday to plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act by conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information, according to a letter from the Department of Justice.
That entity explained that the statement still needs to be approved by a judge, but that imminently it will conclude with the persecution that the US government has carried out for years against an editor who many freedom of the press advocates consider a journalist who exposed crimes of the US military.
However, researchers argue that their actions violated laws aimed at protecting sensitive information and endangered the national security of the United States.
It is expected that Assange will return to Australia after his statement and sentencing in Saipan, the largest island in the Marianas. The hearing will take place there due to Assange's opposition to traveling to the mainland territory of the United States and the proximity of the court to Australia.
A plane with Assange on board departed from Bangkok on Tuesday after refueling, heading to Saipan for the guilty plea agreement that will resolve the legal case regarding the publication of classified documents.
The chartered flight from London, confirmed by his wife Stella, took off from Don Mueang International Airport. The official WikiLeaks account on the social network X reported that Assange was heading to Saipan, where he has a scheduled court hearing.
British judicial authorities confirmed that Assange left the United Kingdom on Monday night after being granted bail in a secret hearing last week.
Stella Assange expressed to the BBC from Australia her excitement about the news, after great uncertainty in the last 72 hours about whether the agreement would be carried out.
The details of the agreement will be made public once they are ratified by a judge.
In a message on X, Stella mentioned that Assange will owe 520,000 dollars to the Australian government for the chartered flight that will return him to Australia, so she has requested donations to cover the cost.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor of WikiLeaks, indicated that the agreement was a result of the increasing involvement of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
"It has been a tough battle, but the focus now is on Julian being able to return to his family," said Hrafnsson.
In a statement published on X, WikiLeaks celebrated the announcement of the agreement and thanked all those who have supported Assange in his fight for freedom.
Albanese told Parliament that an Australian envoy had flown with Assange from London. He also stated, “Regardless of the opinion one may have on Mr. Assange's activity, the case has been dragged out for too long. His continued imprisonment serves no purpose, and we want him back in Australia.”
The Cuban regime celebrated the news and considered that Assange was subjected to a "long and cruel punishment imposed on him for his revelations."
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