Sydney [Australia], June 27: Mr. Assange (53 years old) returned to Australia on the same day after accepting a plea agreement with the US government in the trial taking place on Saipan island in the territory of the Northern Mariana Islands (USA), according to CNN . That was also the end of Mr. Assange's 14-year journey of struggle since the leak of information that shocked the world but was also full of controversy.
The story began in 2010, when the WikiLeaks website founded by Mr. Assange with the mission of exposing unethical behavior of governments and businesses, published nearly half a million secret documents and videos related to the war of America in Iraq and Afghanistan. Documents provided by US military intelligence officer Bradley Manning, including a number of videos of US helicopters shooting at civilians in Iraq. Mr. Manning, who later changed his name to Chelsea and publicly transitioned, was sentenced to 35 years in prison but was freed in 2017 thanks to a commutation of his sentence by President Barack Obama .
Also in 2010, Mr. Assange was wanted by Sweden throughout Europe over allegations of sexual abuse of women, which he denied and said was the first step to extradite him to the US for investigation. He was arrested in the UK, but was released on bail while appealing the extradition order. In 2012, to avoid extradition to Sweden, Mr. Assange applied for political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and remained there until 2019, when Ecuador withdrew his asylum and let British police in to arrest him. . Mr. Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for violating bail regulations in 2012. Also in 2019, the US Department of Justice announced that it had prosecuted Mr. Assange for violating the Espionage Act by conspiring with Mr. Manning to infiltrate Pentagon computer network, and asked Britain to extradite the founder of WikiLeaks to the US. While appealing the extradition order, Mr. Assange continues to be detained in a high-security prison in London.
On June 24, Mr. Assange was suddenly released and flown to Saipan under an agreement with the US government. Accordingly, Mr. Assange was sentenced to 5 years and 2 months in prison on a single charge of conspiracy to illegally collect and disseminate classified US defense information . This Australian citizen will be banned from returning to the US without permission. The judge declared that Mr. Assange is free and does not have to serve an additional sentence because he has been in prison for an equivalent amount of time since 2019.
The agreement takes place in the context that Australia is becoming an increasingly important ally of the US in the Pacific . Since being elected in 2022, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has considered demanding freedom for Mr. Assange a priority and is said to have repeatedly raised the issue with the US, according to Reuters. "It's not something that happened in the last 24 hours but has been patiently considered and done thoroughly," Mr Albanese said at a press conference yesterday. Meanwhile, the White House affirmed its non-involvement and said that the agreement was an independent decision of the Department of Justice .
The agreement helps Mr. Assange avoid a sentence of up to 175 years in prison under the original charges.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper