“Julian is free” confirmed Assange's wife through a message

Stella, wife of the founder of WikiLeaks, the Australian Julian Assange, thanked the efforts of the Canberra Executive, as well as his supporters and activists who fought to free her husband and return to his native country.

“Julian is free,” said Stella Assange on her X account, in which she published images in which the founder of WikiLeaks is seen boarding a plane, after pleading guilty to one of the eighteen charges against him in the US. , within the framework of an agreement with the US Department of Justice.

Assange, who left the high-security Belmarsh prison in the United Kingdom, where he had been imprisoned since 2019, is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday in a court in the Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean.

“Words cannot express our immense gratitude to you. Yes, you who have mobilized us for years and years to make this a reality. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU”, reads the message from the South African lawyer.

For years they asked for his release

This gratitude was directed mainly to the millions of civilians, as well as to organizations defending press freedom that have been calling for Assange’s release for years in Australia, the United Kingdom and other parts of the planet, EFE reported.

“It appears that Julian will be free to return to Australia and my thanks and congratulations to all his supporters who have made this possible, and of course, to the Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese,” Assange’s father, John Shipton, said in an interview with a station of the Australian public broadcaster ABC.

The Albanese Government, which took power in May 2022, had asked Washington on several occasions to desist from extraditing Assange, something to which US President Joe Biden responded in April that he was “considering” it.

“Enjoy a normal life with your family”

Shipton hoped that his son Julian – who bears his stepfather’s surname – will soon be able to “enjoy a normal life with his family and his wife Stella” in Australia, his “home”.

For her part, the mother of the founder of WikiLeaks, Christine Assange, felt grateful that “her son’s ordeal” is over, while highlighting “the importance and power of discreet diplomacy,” according to a statement cited by the ABC.

“Many have used my son’s situation to push their own agendas, so I thank those invisible and hard-working people who put Julian’s well-being first,” said Assange’s mother, confessing that the last 14 years have taken “a toll on her.” mother,” commented EFE.

Plead guilty

The long legal battle between Assange and Washington over one of the largest leaks of classified information in the history of the North American country took a turn when it was learned that Assange would only plead guilty to a single charge of conspiring to illegally obtain and disseminate classified information. .

This guilty plea, which is part of an agreement with the US Department of Justice and must still be approved by a judge, means that Assange will be sentenced to 62 months in prison, equivalent to the time he has already served in Belmarsh, and return to as soon as possible to Australia.

Classified documents

Assange, 52, was wanted by the United States on 18 counts of violating the Espionage Act after WikiLeaks revealed millions of classified documents related to US national defense in 2010, including alleged human rights violations. committed by the military of the North American country in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Since 2019, the journalist had been detained in the high-security Berlmarsh prison (United Kingdom) after that same year the Ecuadorian embassy in London, inside which Assange took refuge for seven years, withdrew the asylum granted in 2012.

With information from EFE

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