The case of Assange

Assange's wife: Wants to be pardoned after he is released

Julian Assange will apply for a pardon for the violation of the US Espionage Act that he admits to as part of the settlement of his release. His wife Stella Assange says so at a press conference.

She describes it as "still worrying for all the world's journalists" that Assange has been accused of espionage.

Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson is on a similar track:

- The case has been an existential threat to press freedom. Today's press needs to review it with depth and seriousness. Maybe there is a new fight for journalists to take on, but Assange's fight is over for this time, says Hrafnsson.

Assange is currently on his way to the Mariana Islands, on American territory, to plead guilty. He is then expected to travel to Sydney as a free man to be reunited with his wife and their two children.

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Analysis: Victory for Assange – not for freedom of the press

The release of Julian Assange is a victory for him and his supporters worldwide, but not necessarily for freedom of the press. That's what The Guardian's Julian Borger writes in an analysis. As part of the settlement with the United States, Assange must plead guilty to violating the country's espionage laws, which "will continue to hang over the heads of journalists who report on national security," according to Borger.

The BBC describes in a text how Assange continues to arouse conflicting feelings: "For his supporters, he is a heroic truth fighter. To his critics, he is an attention-seeker who put lives in danger by releasing lots of sensitive information".

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Julian Assange will be free after agreement with the US government

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will be freed and will return to his native Australia after an agreement with the US Department of Justice, legal documents show according to US media.

According to the agreement, the prosecution will seek a 62-month prison sentence in exchange for Assange admitting to one count of espionage. It corresponds to, and is offset against, the time Assange spent in British prison while he fought against extradition to the United States.

The agreement must be approved by a federal judge. The court hearing takes place on the Mariana archipelago, which is American territory, on the night of Wednesday Swedish time.

Assange has been incarcerated in the British Belmarsh prison since 2019, having previously spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

He is accused by the US government of leaking around 700,000 classified documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010.