Julian Assange, WikiLeaks Founder, Set to Plead Guilty as Part of US Plea Deal
The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, is set to enter a guilty plea in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department. After enduring five long years in British prison, the 52-year-old has agreed to admit guilt to one felony count of unlawfully obtaining and revealing classified national security information, in return for his freedom.
Mr. Assange, 52, was granted his request to appear before a federal judge at one of the more remote outposts of the federal judiciary, the courthouse in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, according to a brief court filing made public late Monday. He is expected to be sentenced to about five years, the equivalent of the time he has already served in Britain, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the terms of the agreement.
As reported by The New York Times, Assange’s request to stand before a federal judge in Saipan, a relatively secluded location within the federal judiciary system, was granted. His anticipated sentence is roughly equivalent to the time already spent behind bars in Britain.
Mr. Assange is scheduled to appear in Saipan at 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday and is expected to fly back to Australia “at the conclusion of the proceedings,” Matthew J. McKenzie, an official in the Justice Department’s counterterrorism division, wrote in a letter to the judge in the case.
In response to this development, Stella Assange, Julian’s wife, shared a video showcasing her husband signing legal documents and boarding a plane. She also provided flight tracking information, indicating his journey from London to Saipan.
The only felony he committed was exposing Hillary Clinton