WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned home to Australia a free man last Wednesday after he was sentenced to time served in a federal court in the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
Assange reached a deal with the US Justice Department to plead guilty to conspiring with former US Army Pvt. Bradley Manning to obtain and disclose classified Defense documents.
The plea agreement was accepted by US District Judge Ramona Manglona.
Federal prosecutors had requested a sentence of 62 months as part of the plea deal. However, Judge Manglona credited Assange for the five years he spent in British custody and released him.
A federal grand jury indicted Assange in 2019 on 18 felony charges, including 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act for illegally obtaining and publishing classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan on the WikiLeaks website.
Prosecutors accused Assange of recruiting people to illegally obtain classified information, including through computer hacks.
Assange was taken into custody by British authorities and spent the next five years fighting extradition to the United States to face the charges.
Pleading guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose confidential defense information brings an end to the five-year battle.
After his sentencing, Assange quickly boarded a plane to return to Australia, touching down in the capital of Canberra in the early evening local time.
Waiting at the airport was his wife Stella and his father John Shipton.
Stella Assange told reporters at a news conference following her husband’s arrival that Assange was not attending because he needed time to “recuperate.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who spoke with Assange after he touched down, told the Parliament that Assange’s release was the result of the Australian government’s “careful, patient, and determined work.”
Australia objected to Assange’s prosecution and called on the United States to drop the charges and allow him to return to Australia.
In April, President Biden said he was “considering” the request.
