WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act as part of a plea agreement that will resolve his outstanding legal matters with the U.S. government. The guilty plea is expected to be finalized Wednesday, and Assange is set to appear in a U.S. courtroom on the Northern Mariana Islands. The Justice Department has recommended a prison sentence of 62 months in custody as part of the plea agreement, although Assange will not serve any additional time in U.S. custody due to credit for the time he has already spent in a U.K. prison fighting extradition to the U.S.
Assange was indicted in 2019 with more than a dozen charges related to illegally obtaining and disseminating classified information about America’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on his WikiLeaks site. He is expected to plead guilty to a charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information. Despite his attorney declining to comment, the plea agreement brings an end to a years-long legal battle that involved accusations of recruiting individuals to hack into computers and obtain classified information.
Assange has been in British custody since 2019 and has been fighting extradition to the U.S. to face federal charges. His supporters argue that he was acting as a journalist in reporting on government actions and that the charges should never have been filed. In May, he won his bid to appeal extradition to the U.S. after a British court requested assurances from the U.S. government regarding free speech protections and the death penalty. There have been calls for the U.S. to drop the case against Assange, and President Biden has said he is considering a request from Australia to allow Assange to return to his native country.
Assange faced legal troubles dating back to 2010 when he was accused of rape and sexual assault by two women in Sweden, allegations which he denied. Seeking political asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, he lived there for seven years until being evicted in 2019. Although Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation, Assange was wanted by British police for skipping bail. In 2019, he was arrested by British police at the embassy at the request of the U.S. government, facing charges related to the 2010 information leak.
The international court battle involving Assange has spanned over a decade, with various legal issues arising. WikiLeaks, a key player in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, published stolen emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Assange and WikiLeaks are mentioned in the special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, but they were not charged for their conduct in that election. Despite facing numerous legal challenges and accusations, Assange’s expected guilty plea in the U.S. brings an end to this chapter of his legal troubles.
