Julian Assange is to walk free from a US federal court after a judge accepted a plea deal on an espionage charge in proceedings that conclude a decade of legal wrangling between Washington and the WikiLeaks founder.
Under an agreement with the US Department of Justice, Assange on Wednesday pleaded guilty to one charge and was sentenced shortly after his plea submission. Assange has already served 62 months in a UK jail while awaiting extradition to the US, and prosecutors have not sought additional imprisonment, allowing him to walk free after years of incarceration.
The case is linked to what prosecutors have described as one of the biggest leaks of classified material in US history. Washington has long maintained that intelligence operatives’ lives were put at risk because of the information disclosure — a claim Assange’s lawyers have disputed. His supporters have hailed his group’s efforts to shed light on secretive and powerful organisations, including governments and corporations.