Julian Assange Pleads Guilty to Espionage Charge
Deal Ends WikiLeaks Founder's Legal Battle
Assange to Walk Free After 12-Year Saga
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to a single espionage charge in a deal that will end his years-long legal battle with the United States.
The plea deal was reached on Wednesday, and Assange is expected to be released from prison shortly. The deal will allow him to return to Australia, where he has not been since 2010.
Assange was charged with espionage in 2010 after WikiLeaks published classified documents from the US military and diplomatic corps. He was arrested in 2019 and has been held in jail in London since then.
The plea deal is a major victory for Assange, who has long maintained that he was acting as a journalist and was protected by the First Amendment. The US government had sought to extradite Assange to the United States, where he could have faced up to 175 years in prison.
The outcome of the case is likely to have a significant impact on the future of whistleblowing and the protection of journalists.
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