Julian Assange Pleads Guilty to Espionage, Securing His Freedom

Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a felony charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act, securing his freedom under a plea deal that saw its final act play out in a remote U.S. courtroom in Saipan in the Western Pacific.

He appeared in court wearing a black suit with his lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, and Kevin Rudd, the Australian ambassador to the United States. He stood briefly and offered his plea more than a decade after he obtained and published classified secret military and diplomatic documents in 2010, moving a convoluted case involving several countries and U.S. presidents closer to its conclusion.

After a few hours of proceedings, he boarded a plane for Australia, where arrived in the capital, Canberra, shortly before 8 p.m. He pumped his fist in the air as he exited the plane.

It was all part of an agreement allowing Mr. Assange to return to normal life after spending more than five years in British custody most of it fighting extradition to the United States.

His family and lawyers documented his journey from London to Bangkok and on to Saipan, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth, posting photos and videos online from a chartered jet. His defense team said that in the negotiations over his plea deal, Mr. Assange had refused to appear in a court on the U.S. mainland, and that he had not been allowed to fly commercial.

His wife, Stella, a lawyer who is part of his legal team, posted a fund-raising appeal on the social media platform X, seeking help in covering the $520,000 cost of the flight, which she said would have to be repaid to the Australian government.

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Julian Assange Pleads Guilty to Espionage, Securing His Freedom