Assange Pleads Guilty to Espionage in Court Hearing
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, recently appeared in court in the Northern Mariana Islands District Court, a US territory located near the Asian coast of the Pacific Ocean. During the trial, Assange accepted the charge of “violating the espionage law” as part of an agreement he reached with the USA.
As per the agreement, Assange agreed to destroy all documents he provided to WikiLeaks. It was also determined that Assange would serve a sentence of 62 months in prison, but would be allowed to return to Australia, taking into consideration the time he had already spent behind bars in England.
The trial process for Assange dates back to 2010 when WikiLeaks published 251 thousand secret documents exposing crimes committed by the USA in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange was taken into custody in April 2019 from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had sought refuge since June 2012, for violating the conditions of his bail release.
Following a request for extradition from the USA, the British Supreme Court sought assurances that Assange would not face the death penalty and would receive a fair trial. It was revealed recently that Assange will be permitted to leave the UK, where he has been detained for five years, and return to Australia after reaching an agreement with the US to plead guilty to breaching the espionage law.
This recent development marks a significant turning point in the legal saga of Julian Assange, bringing some closure to a case that has garnered international attention and controversy.
