WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a free man, after his plea deal was granted by a U.S. judge.
He will serve no further time behind bars because of time already spent in a UK prison.
Assange is expected to board a plane to Australia to reunite with his family shortly.
Julian Assange case
The U.S. had sought to bring him to trial on 18 charges of spying, with a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Instead, through a deal with U.S. authorities, he pleaded guilty this morning to one charge of accessing classified material. Julian Assange is now free to return to Australia.
Background
In 2010, WikiLeaks posted thousands of secret military documents, including claims U.S. armed forces were responsible for an estimated 15,000 unreported civilian deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.
From 2012-19, Ecuador’s embassy in the UK provided Assange with political asylum (protection). London police arrested Assange as soon as this protection ended.
He was detained in a UK high-security prison until yesterday, while U.S. authorities sought to move him to America to face their charges.
