Founder WikiLeaksJulian Assange pleaded guilty early Wednesday morning (Portuguese time) in federal court on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands archipelago to charges of violating the US Espionage Act and struck a deal. It will give him back his freedom.
According to a British newspaper GuardianAssange had the opportunity to judge Ramona Villacomez Manglona, who read and signed the plea agreement “in detail” while at London’s Stansted Airport, and answered in the negative to all questions the judge asked him about whether anyone had tried to “bribe” him. , threaten or coerce” to take the blame.
The judge insisted and asked the Australian if he would plead guilty because he was indeed guilty of the charges against him. Yet according to the newspaper, Assange paused for a long moment and replied: “Me.”
During the hearing, which was suspended around 1:30 a.m., the attorneys present read in detail some of the information they shared. WikiLeaks, Assange established, and it would be relevant to the sentence. Returning to the room, the judge accepted the confession at the last moment and pronounced the defendant “guilty.”
“It was overwhelming,” Stella says
“Julian arrived at the federal courthouse in Saipan. After years of emotional deprivation within the four walls of his high-security cell at Belmarsh Prison, I watched him walk past the crush of journalists waiting for him, and I thought how much more he must have.” Stella Assange, Social Network X , shortly after her husband arrived in the American Isles.
A Visitors Founder WikiLeaks It was scheduled for 9am local time (midnight in mainland Portugal) and started shortly after. Assange has promised to plead guilty before a North American federal judge, who will sentence him to five years in prison and assume the 52-year-old Australian will be officially released.
Assange will be allowed to travel to the remote North American island of Saipan in the western Pacific after completing a journey that began at the high-security Belmarsh prison in southeast London, passing through Stansted Airport and then flying to Bangkok.
Julian has arrived at the Federal Court in Saipan.
I look at this and think how burdened his feelings must be, walking through the press scrum after years of emotional deprivation and the four walls of his high-security Belmarsh prison.
— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) June 25, 2024
Assange landed in Saipan at around 6 a.m. local time (9 p.m. in mainland Portugal) on a private jet he had chartered to finalize a deal he signed while in prison in the United Kingdom. On arrival on the island, he bypassed the press that awaited him at the airport and at the courthouse entrance, and immediately went to trial.
Before entering the court, accompanied by his entourage and the US ambassador to Australia (Kevin Rudd), Assange was questioned by journalists who insisted on asking questions, but he refused to comment. After alighting from the white SUV carrying him, he simply walked to the main door of the courthouse and then went through the X-ray.
Around 00:30, Lisbon time, the WikiLeaks X shared a message that read “Julian Assange is expected to depart in two hours and 58 minutes. [ou seja, por volta das 3h30 da manhã]en route to Canberra, on flight VJT199″. In this release, The connection It can track the aircraft.
Estimated departure time is 2 hours, 58 minutes. To Canberra, Australia.
Flight VJT199 #Assangjet: https://t.co/gxcbvNyvnj pic.twitter.com/t239sHob7Q
— WikiLeaks (@WikiLeaks) June 25, 2024
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