Julian Assange has walked free from court and will soon fly home to Australia after pleading guilty to a single espionage charge.
The WikiLeaks founder has just been released without probation or supervision after a hearing in a US federal court on the Pacific island of Saipan.
CAN HE ENTER US?
However, he is banned from entering the US ever again without permission from American authorities.
A plea deal with American prosecutors paved the way for him to return home without fear of arrest after 14 years as a wanted criminal suspect.
WHY ASSANGE WAS IMPRISONED
Assange was wanted for espionage since 2010 after WikiLeaks released thousands of classified US military documents, and for unrelated r@pe charges in Sweden.
He fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London in June 2012 when he lost his appeal against extradition to Sweden, and spent seven years hiding there until he was kicked out and locked up in a top-security prison since April 2019.
Judge Ramona V Manglona accepted his guilty plea and debated whether to fine Assange up to US$150,000 or order probation or supervised release.
COURT RULING
After discussion with Assange’s lawyer Barry Pollack and US Attorney Matthew McKenzie, she decided against either and let him walk out a free man.
‘You will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man. I hope there will be some peace restored,’ Manglona declared.
‘Given the factual basis that accounts the whole saga of events that constitutes the basis for this very serious espionage charge against you…I am in fact sentencing you to a period of time served,’ she said.
‘I am not imposing any period of supervised release.’
The judge noted that the island was soon to celebrate 80 years of its own freedom.
