Chronology of the ‘Assange case’: from the Wikileaks leak that put freedom in check for the United States

The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, was released this Tuesday after concluding an agreement with the United States Department of Justice in which he pleaded guilty to violating the Espionage Act of that country for his role in obtaining and publishing in 2010 of more than 200,000 cables from American diplomacy. This pact states that Washington considers that Assange, 52, has already served the sentence that this espionage charge entails for the five years he has spent in prison in the United Kingdom. He had previously remained a refugee in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for another seven years. These are the milestones that have marked one of the most important judicial processes in the universal defense of press freedom of this century.

2006

Wikileaks Foundation

Australian Julian Assange, then 35 years old, founded Wikileaks with other activists, a multinational non-profit media organization that defines itself as “a specialist in the analysis and publication of large data sets of censored or restricted official materials involving war, espionage and corruption,” according to its website. Since its creation, it has disclosed more than 10 million documents.

2010

Mass leak of documents and ‘Cablegate’

2010 is the peak year of Wikileaks leaks. In April, Assange’s website published a video in which US soldiers are seen shooting two reporters from the Reuters agency in Baghdad from a helicopter. In just 72 hours, the video went around the world and received more than four million views on YouTube. Between July and October, the organization makes public tens of thousands of documents in relation to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that brought to light, among other things, corruption in the Western-backed Afghan government and higher death tolls than previously reported. known during conflicts.

But it was in November of that year when Wikileaks leaked to five international newspapers ―Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and Morning Express – more than 200,000 diplomatic cables from the US State Department and shakes world diplomacy. Cablegateas one of the largest document leaks in history was named, reveals the management of US foreign policy, such as the change in relations with China and North Korea and Washington’s order to spy on the Secretary General of the UN, then Ban Ki-moon.

In parallel with the publication of the documents, the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office issues an arrest warrant against Assange, accused of rape by one woman and abuse by another in that country. Wikileaks co-founder denies charges. The second case ends up being archived due to statute of limitations, but the Swedish authorities maintain the rape investigation until Assange himself surrenders to the police in London. A court grants him conditional release on bail.

2012

Asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy

The Ecuadorian Embassy in London grants political asylum to Assange after a court approved his extradition to Sweden for the alleged rape case. The British justice orders her arrest for violating her parole when she took refuge in the embassy. The police set up a 24-hour guard to arrest him if he goes out.

2013

Manning sentenced

While Assange continues to take refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy, ​​Chelsea Manning, a former US Army soldier and Wikileaks’ main source for the leak of the Cablegate, is sentenced to 35 years in prison for violating the Espionage Act. A few months after the verdict, Manning asked then-US President Barack Obama for a pardon, justifying her actions out of “a sense of duty to others.” Obama commutes her sentence in 2017.

2017

Assange borders on freedom

Wikileaks makes public what it calls the “largest leak of documents in the history of the CIA,” in which it is revealed that the agency supposedly uses a method of cyberespionage through the microphones of computers, phones and televisions to spy on users. .

Assange celebrates five years as a refugee in the Ecuadorian Embassy. In the month of December he is about to leave the facilities thanks to a secret plan with which he would obtain Ecuadorian nationality and a diplomatic passport to flee through the Eurotunnel to a country in continental Europe. The plan was frustrated in a few days due to the espionage of a Spanish company that provided the CIA with this information, as revealed in 2023 by an Morning Express investigation.

Meanwhile, the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office archives the rape investigation and withdraws the international arrest warrant.

2018

Court case in the USA

Despite the end of the judicial process in Sweden – which briefly reopened in 2019 – a British court rejects an appeal by Assange and maintains the arrest warrant against him for breaching the terms of his conditional release.

In November, an investigator discovers a sealed US Justice Department court file that was mistakenly made public and appears to reveal the existence of a criminal case against Assange. He opens the door for the first time to possible extradition to the United States if he is arrested by the British police.

2019

Arrest

The then president of Ecuador, Lenín Moreno, decided to withdraw diplomatic asylum from Assange, whom he accused of having “aggressive behavior”, of making “discourteous and threatening statements from his allied organization.” [Wikileaks] against Ecuador” and of “violating international agreements” by interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. The British police enter the premises of the Ecuadorian embassy and arrest him. Moreno justifies his decision by reaching an agreement with the United Kingdom that Assange will not be extradited to a country where he could face torture or the death penalty.

A month after his arrest, he is sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping parole. The United States makes public the case against him and accuses him of 18 charges, including espionage and conspiracy together with Manning to to hack Pentagon computers.

2021

The US request advances

A British court rules that Assange cannot be extradited to the United States, where he faces sentences of up to 175 years in prison, due to the “high” risk that he will commit suicide if this occurs. “Mr Assange’s mental health is in such a state that he would find it distressing to be extradited. He would suffer a deterioration that would lead him to commit suicide, given the determination caused by his autistic disorders,” the judge argues. Given the decision, the activist’s defense requests his conditional release, but it is denied due to flight risk.

US lawyers appeal the decision and in the second instance, the London Court of Appeal reverses the sentence and decides that there are sufficient guarantees for Assange to be treated humanely once extradited.

2022

Signature of the extradition order

In March 2022, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom dismissed an appeal by Assange and authorized his extradition to the United States. In July, the then British Home Secretary, Priti Patel, signed the order. The activist’s defense appeals the decision, which remains in the hands of the High Court of Justice of England and Wales

2024

Assange is free

The High Court of Justice of England and Wales stops Assange’s extradition on May 20 and allows him to appeal it before the British courts, considering that Washington does not provide sufficient guarantees for the Wikileaks founder to have a fair trial on American soil. On May 25, 2024, the founder of Wikileaks is released after pleading guilty to one count of violating the US Espionage Act. With this agreement with the State Department, which must be ratified this Wednesday, its long legal soap opera ends. “Julian Assange is free,” Wikileaks tweeted.

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