Julian Assange leaves prison after striking US plea deal

WORLD, June 25 (YPA) -Founder of the “WikiLeaks” website, Julian Assange, has left Britain after spending five years in prison, heading to the Northern Mariana Islands, a territory of the United States, where his trial will take place.

Wikileaks said that Assange left Belmarsh prison on Monday after 1,901 days in a small cell.

The High Court in London ruled for his release on bail, after which Assange headed to Stansted Airport on the outskirts of London and left the UK.

“WikiLeaks” confirmed the accuracy of the information from the American court regarding the deal with Assange, which includes his partial confession of guilt.

The American Federal Court is scheduled to hold Assange’s trial on Saipan Island, part of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean, on June 26, where his admission of guilt is planned to be heard and a judgment issued within one day.

It is expected that Assange will be able to return to his homeland of Australia after being released as part of the deal with the US authorities.

It should be noted that the US authorities have accused Julian Assange of “conspiring to obtain secret information related to the US national defense and disclosing it” after his website “WikiLeaks” revealed sensitive information about US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Assange has been in a British prison since 2019, placed there after being expelled from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been granted asylum since 2012.

The United States has repeatedly requested the extradition of Julian Assange to face trial in the mentioned case.

@E.Y.M