Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is expected to plead guilty to a felony charge related to one of the largest leaks of classified U.S. information, according to court documents filed on Monday.
"Julian Assange is free," read a statement from WikiLeaks on X. The statement noted that Assange had boarded a flight from the U.K. to Australia after being granted bail by London's High Court on Monday morning.
This plea deal marks the end of a lengthy legal battle over Assange's role in the release of U.S. security secrets. Assange, originally from Australia, faced life imprisonment if convicted on 18 criminal counts in the U.S. under the Espionage Act, including conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.
In April, President Biden considered a request from the Australian government to end the U.S. prosecution of Assange and allow him to return to Australia. Assange is scheduled to appear before a federal judge in Saipan, in the Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth, on Wednesday morning local time to finalize his guilty plea and sentencing. Following this, he is expected to return to Australia.
Assange's legal saga began in 2019 when he was arrested after leaving London's Ecuadorian Embassy, where he had lived for seven years under asylum until the offer was withdrawn. Since then, he has been in U.K. custody. Assange has consistently maintained that he acted as a journalist when he published U.S. government documents on Iraq and Afghanistan through WikiLeaks.
In February, Australia's Parliament passed a motion urging for Assange's return, stating that the case against him had dragged on for too long. The U.S. State Department and the Australian government have declined to comment on the latest developments.