The sudden ending allows both parties to declare some level of achievement, with the Justice Department able to settle a complex case without a trial.
Julian Assange has been released from court and will soon return to Australia after pleading guilty to one espionage charge, ending a remarkable legal saga. The WikiLeaks founder was released without probation after a hearing in a US federal court in Saipan. Assange had flown to Saipan from London.
However, he is permanently banned from entering the US without permission from American authorities. A plea deal with the American prosecutors allowed him to return home without fear of arrest after 14 years as a wanted criminal suspect. Assange had been wanted for espionage since 2010, following WikiLeaks‘ release of classified US military documents, and for unrelated rape charges in Sweden.
Finally Free and No Fear of Arrest
During the three-hour hearing, Assange admitted to one criminal charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents but said that he believed his actions were protected by the US First Amendment, which safeguards free speech.
„Working as a journalist I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information“, he told the court.
