Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, entered a plea deal on Wednesday and was ordered to be released right away by a US federal judge in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. Assange had admitted to one count of breaching the Espionage Act.
Judge Ramona Manglona declared that he will go from the courtroom “a free man.”
The judge ruled that the 62 months he had already served in a UK cell should be accepted as his sentence. Judge Manglona declared, “You will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man.”
As part of an agreement with the US Justice Department, Assange had already entered a guilty plea in court, ending the protracted legal battle and avoiding additional jail time.
Following his release from a five-year prison sentence in the United Kingdom, the founder of Wikileaks arrived in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean, on Wednesday morning.
Stephen Smith, Australia’s high commissioner to the UK, and Kevin Rudd, the country’s ambassador to the US and former prime minister, were both in attendance at the court.
Assange will now take a plane back to Canberra, the capital of Australia.
