Julian Assange has arrived in a suit and tie, although looking somewhat disheveled, to his date with freedom. The founder of Wikileaks appeared early on Wednesday in the district court of Saipan, in the territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. There, Judge Ramona Manglona has ratified in a hearing the agreement reached with the United States Department of Justice. Assange has pleaded guilty to a crime of violating the Espionage Law, for which he has been sentenced to a sentence already served of about five years in prison. He has left the court as “a free man”, as the judge has said, after 12 years in prison, seven of them in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and another five in a British maximum security prison. He is already flying towards Australia, where he plans to land around 7:00 p.m. local time (11:00 a.m. in mainland Spain).
From the British prison, from which he was fighting his extradition, he left on Monday to board a private plane at Stansted airport (London) which, after stopping in Bangkok (Thailand), landed this Wednesday (local time). at Saipan International Airport. Assange, 52, arrived at the court accompanied by Australia’s ambassador to the United States, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The Australian Government has advocated for years for the freedom of the controversial founder of Wikileaks.
The founder of Wikileaks has not made any statements upon his arrival, surrounded by great expectation, nor after being released. He got out of a white car with a permanent half smile, passed the security checks and headed to the room, according to the images released. No cameras have been allowed in view, which has not been broadcast either. The few media outlets that have been able to access the room have said that there were more than fifty people present.
The outcome of a long-running legal saga has occurred in a picturesque place, in a modern courthouse, not far from the beach, on the largest of the 14 islands of the archipelago located north of Guam, which constitutes a State free association of the United States, such as Puerto Rico. Its inhabitants are American citizens, but they cannot vote in presidential elections nor are they represented in Congress. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it is a few hours’ flight from Australia, Assange’s native country and destination to taste freedom.
The judge herself asked why the case had been brought before her court. US prosecutor Matthew McKenzie explained that the reason was the proximity to Assange’s home country. The day before, the Justice Department had already announced that the founder of Wikileaks had refused to appear before a court in the continental United States.
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After taking the oath, the accused answered some preliminary questions and stated his refusal to have his indictment decided by a grand jury. He has confirmed that he was not threatened or coerced into signing the agreement, signed at Stansted Airport (London). Assange has pleaded guilty to a single crime of conspiring to illegally obtain and disseminate classified information related to the national defense of the United States, punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison, but for which prosecutors accept that he will only be sentenced to prison time already served.
Assange has defined himself as a journalist, and has stated that he believes that his actions in instigating his source, Chelsea Manning, to provide him with classified information should be protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which enshrines freedom of expression. At the same time, he has admitted that his actions violated the Espionage Act and that it would be difficult to win his case at trial.
Before the agreement, the Justice Department accused Assange of 17 crimes against the Espionage Act and one for computer interference. The Australian publisher faced a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, mainly for the leak of more than 250,000 classified documents from the US State Department in November 2010. Morning Express was one of the media that participated in the concerted publishing effort. of these papers.
Before ratifying the agreement, Judge Manglona asked Assange if he was happy with the process. “That could depend on the outcome of the hearing,” she joked, according to the journalist from Washington Post present in the room. The result has been satisfactory. “I sentence you to the time you have already served,” the judge later said, stating that she had validated the agreement between the parties. “With this pronouncement it seems that he will be able to leave this court as a free man. I hope this restores a little peace,” added Manglona, who recalled that the island of Saipan celebrated 80 years of its own freedom this week. Assange has been released. When he left the court, the smile was already complete.
After leaving the premises, without making any statements, Assange boarded a private plane that took off at 12:10 local time (3:10 Spanish peninsular time) towards Canberra, the Australian capital, where he plans to land at 7:00 p.m.: 00 local time (11:00 on the peninsula). In his country of origin, his wife Stella Assange and his two children, aged 5 and 7, are waiting for him, whom he has only met while in prison.
“The prosecution of Julian Assange is unprecedented,” declared his American lawyer, Barry Pollack, who did make statements after the hearing. Pollack has criticized the fact that in 100 years the Espionage Act has never been used by the United States to persecute an editor or a journalist. “Mr. Assange revealed truthful, important and newsworthy information, including the revelation that the United States had committed war crimes, and has suffered enormously in its fight for freedom of expression, for freedom of the press.” The lawyer added that he “firmly” believes the editor should never have been charged. “However, it is appropriate that this fight end, and it is appropriate that the judge, as she has done today, determine that it would not be fair, would be appropriate, any further imprisonment for Mr. Assange, and that it is time for him to meet with his family”.
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