Julian Assange has been released from prison on bail and is set to return to Australia following a plea deal with the US government regarding his WikiLeaks disclosures. Documents filed on Monday in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a Pacific Ocean American territory, indicate that Assange will plead guilty to one felony charge in exchange for his immediate freedom, reports Njenje Media.
The US Justice Department has agreed to drop 18 espionage charges against Assange, charging him only with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information. Under the terms of the deal, Assange will be sentenced to 62 months in prison, with the five years he has already spent in the UK’s HMP Belmarsh counting towards this period. The agreement still requires approval from a federal judge.
On Monday morning, Assange left Belmarsh and boarded a flight at Stansted Airport, according to WikiLeaks. A video posted by WikiLeaks on X showed Assange, dressed in a blue shirt and jeans, signing a document before boarding a private jet.
Assange is scheduled to appear in a US federal court in Saipan, the capital of the US-controlled Northern Mariana Islands, on Wednesday at 9 a.m. local time (Tuesday 11 p.m. GMT). The case is being heard outside the continental United States due to Assange’s opposition to traveling there.
