Wikileaks | Wikileaks’ Julian Assange confessed to a “conspiracy” – the trial in Saipan has begun

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has arrived as agreed in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands belonging to the United States and his trial has started early on Wednesday Finnish time.

At the very beginning of the trial, Assange pleaded guilty to “conspiracy” to “unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information related to the national defense of the United States.”

According to court documents, Assange had entered into an agreement with the US Department of Justice to plead guilty to this very charge.

In exchange, Assange’s prison years in Britain will be counted towards his sentence in the US in full and he would appear to be free to go to his home country of Australia after his sentence.

WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of documents in 2010 about US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The documents told, for example, about the attack by the United States, which killed the staff of the Reuters news department, and about several alleged war crimes.

Wikileaks first published part of the material in cooperation with quality magazines, which made their own journalistic judgment and limitations. These included The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel, The Guardian and El Pais.

Assange was arrested in Britain in 2010 when Sweden wanted to question him about an alleged sex crime, which Assange denied.

Assange fled to the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden. Assange said he feared Sweden would extradite him to the United States, where he faced up to 170 years in prison.

Sweden already closed the investigation into the alleged sexual crime years ago. Ecuador revoked Assange’s asylum in 2019 and British police arrested him.

Assange spent five years in Belmarsh prison. The sentence for violating the parole order expired quickly, and Britain was about to extradite Assange to the United States, which he opposed through the courts.

A situation arose where Britain did not release Assange because it was afraid that he would flee before the extradition order could possibly have the force of law.

On May 20, Assange received permission from the British Supreme Court to appeal the extradition decision to the United States, which would have delayed a possible return even further.

This may have contributed to the US Department of Justice and Assange reaching an agreement.

The Guardian to point outthat the agreement to recognize the charge based specifically on the old Espionage Act of 1917 is a defeat for freedom of speech.

A key part of investigative journalism is the acquisition and – if the journalistic criteria are met – disclosure of classified information related to national defense, as mentioned in the old Espionage Act, The Guardian reminds.

Although the United States Department of Justice does not consider Assange an actual journalist, the use of the age-old law against Assange, who also published information in cooperation with traditional media, constitutes the interview by The Guardian by Jameel Jaffer according to a dangerous precedent all over the world.

Jaffer directs the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.

Assange’s the likely release has sparked debate in the United States. Former vice president of the country Mike Pence condemns the contract. Former Director of Intelligence James Clapper however, considers the agreement to be reasonable.

“He’s kind of paid his dues,” Clapper said In an interview with CNN referring to years in prison.

“We did a damage assessment at the time, and although there were concerns, I don’t recall any direct evidence that the information leak would have, for example, exposed the resources that supported the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Clapper stated.