The case against a journalist in the United States for his role in the prosecution of Wikileaks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
The US prosecutors stated in a letter filed in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands that they had received a request for a guilty plea from the man who would like to plead guilty. He is then expected to return to his home country of Australia, having already served the expected 62-month sentence in London prison.
A years-long legal battle surrounding the imprisonment of the Wikileaks founder culminated in a decision by a court. He’s expected to come back to Australia after the proceedings.
Australian leaders have been lobbying the Biden administration to drop the criminal case for years. President Biden said at a news conference in April that American authorities had been considering it.
The indictment accused him of trying to get and publish secret reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and of publishing sensitive US diplomatic cables. The materials were published on his site without removing sensitive information that could be used to harm people.
“No responsible actor, journalist or otherwise, would purposefully publish the names of individuals he or she knew to be confidential human sources in a war zone, exposing them to the gravest of dangers,” said former Assistant Attorney General John Demers at the time of that indictment.
US prosecutors secured, on appeal, permission to extradite the award-winning journalist, who married his longtime partner, Stella Moris, while in jail in 2022, by offering UK courts a slate of written assurances. The US promised to not attach “special administration measures” to the fact that it was not planning to extradite the man to Sweden.
For years, the American government tried to extradite him. There were legal proceedings that were going to take place before the plea deal was reached.
He admitted it would be difficult to win a case with both the Espionage Act and the First Amendment at odds.
“I think I am going to win the Nobel Prize,” Assange told a crowd at a Grand Jury hearing in the run up to the US presidential election
Assange wore a suit with a blazer, shirt, pants and tie. He didn’t say a lot except for his counsel. He appeared composed and his tone was measured. He was charming and playful as he interacted with the judge.
Prior to his plea, Assange answered basic questions from Judge Manglona and told him he waived his right to indictment by a grand jury. When Manglona asked him whether he was happy with his legal representation, Assange replied: “That might depend on the outcome of the hearing,” prompting laughter.
In a video recorded outside of Belmarsh, which has been uploaded on to the internet, the WikiLeaks editor in chief said he wanted to see his boss in the last days of its walls. “If you’re seeing this, it means he is out.”
In a video pre-recorded last week, Moris said he was confident that the period of their lives had ended. “I think by this time next week, Julian will be free.”
In the run up to the US presidential election between Hillary Clinton andDonald Trump, there was a trove of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee. The DNC leak, which embarrassed the organization and received praise from right-wing people, was the work of two Russian hacking groups, known as Cozy Bear and Fancy Bear, that are affiliated with the GRU military intelligence agency.
