Julian Assange could be freed this week | News in brief

Julian Assange could be freed this week News in

Assange has been evading the judiciary for years.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is set to plead guilty this week to leaking military secrets as part of a deal with the US Department of Justice that will allow him to return to Australia. The matter appears from court documents, news agencies say.

Assange is to be sentenced on Wednesday to 62 months in prison, which he has already served while imprisoned in Britain. It is believed that he will return home immediately after the court hearing.

The Wikileaks website said early on Tuesday the message service in Xthat Assange has already left prison and flown out of Britain.

A long legal battle in the background

At the beginning of the last decade, the disclosure website Wikileaks, led by Assange, published hundreds of thousands of secret US documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Assange has been evading the judiciary for years. First, Sweden wanted Assange on trial accused of rape and sexual harassment, but the country later dropped the charges. The United States announced its own charges in 2019.

The United States has wanted Assange in front of an American court to answer charges of espionage, but the British court decided last May that Assange can appeal the extradition decision.

Sources: AFP, AP, Reuters

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