Julian Assange has arrived in a suit and tie, although looking somewhat disheveled, to his date with freedom. The founder of Wikileaks appeared early on Wednesday in the district court of Saipan, in the territory of the Northern Mariana Islands. There, Judge Ramona Manglona supervises the agreement reached with the United States Department of Justice in a hearing. Assange has pleaded guilty to a crime of violating the Espionage Act, for which he expects to be sentenced to a sentence already served of five years in prison. He hopes to leave the court a free man, after 12 years in prison, seven of them in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and another five in a British maximum security prison.
From that prison, from which he was fighting his extradition, he left on Monday to board a private plane at Stansted airport (London) which, after stopping in Bangkok (Thailand), landed this same Wednesday (local time) in Saipan International Airport. Assange, 52, arrived at the court accompanied by Australia’s ambassador to the United States, former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. The Australian Government has advocated for years for the freedom of the controversial founder of Wikileaks.
The founder of Wikileaks has not made any statements upon his arrival, surrounded by great expectation. He got out of a white car with a permanent half smile, passed the security checks and headed to the room, according to the images released. No cameras have been allowed in view, which has not been broadcast either. The few media outlets that have been able to access the room have said that there were more than fifty people present.
The conclusion of a long-running legal saga has taken place in a picturesque location, in a modern courthouse not far from the beach on the largest of the 14 islands in the archipelago north of Guam, which is a free state associated with the United States, like Puerto Rico. Its inhabitants are American citizens, but cannot vote in presidential elections and have no representation in Congress. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, it is just a few hours’ flight from Australia, Assange’s home country and destination for a taste of freedom.
The judge herself has asked why the case had been presented in her court. US prosecutor Matthew McKenzie has explained that the reason was the proximity to Assange’s country of origin. The day before, the Department of Justice had already anticipated that the founder of Wikileaks had refused to appear before a court in the continental United States.
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After taking the oath, the accused answered some preliminary questions and stated his refusal to have his indictment decided by a grand jury. He has confirmed that he was not threatened or coerced into signing the agreement, signed at Stansted Airport (London). Assange has pleaded guilty to a single crime of conspiring to illegally obtain and disseminate classified information related to the national defense of the United States, punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison, but for which prosecutors accept that he will only be sentenced to prison time already served.
Assange has defined himself as a journalist, and has stated that he believes that his actions in instigating his source, Chelsea Manning, to provide him with classified information should be protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which enshrines freedom of expression. At the same time, he has admitted that he violated the Espionage Act with his actions and that it would be difficult to win his case at trial.
Before the agreement, the Justice Department accused Assange of 17 crimes against the Espionage Act and one for computer interference. The Australian publisher faced a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison, mainly for the leak of more than 250,000 classified documents from the US State Department in November 2010. EL PAÍS was one of the media that participated in the concerted publishing effort. of these papers.
Before ratifying the agreement, Judge Manglona asked Assange if he was happy with the process. “That could depend on the outcome of the hearing,” she joked, according to the journalist from Washington Post present in the room. The result is expected to be satisfactory: that the judge validates the agreement between the parties and Assange will be released.
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