Wikileaks announced on Monday that Julian Assange has been released after he agreed to plead guilty under a deal with the US Justice Department.
Assange left a British prison and flew out of the UK to Bangkok to continue negotiations regarding avoiding imprisonment in the US.
Documents filed on Monday disclosed that Assange has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge linked to his alleged involvement in a major US government breach of classified information, as part of an arrangement with the US Justice Department.
Assange, who has been held in a UK prison since 2019, faced potential extradition after a UK court ruled in 2021 that he could be extradited.
However, earlier this year, a High Court ruled that he had the right to appeal that decision.
Assange is expected to appear in a federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US Commonwealth in the Western Pacific, where he intends to plead guilty to a single charge under the US Espionage Act and receive a 62-month sentence, while the extradition request is anticipated to be withdrawn.
With credit for time already served in a British prison, this arrangement would allow him to return to Australia, his country of birth.
