Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00In this footage released by Wikileaks, Julian Assange is shown holding a document
00:04before boarding a plane at what it says is London's Stansted airport.
00:09It comes as Assange reached a landmark plea deal with the United States
00:14after fighting extradition for nearly 14 years.
00:17The 52-year-old has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain
00:22and disseminate national defence information.
00:25He's not expected to face any prison time
00:28due to the five years and two months he's already served in the UK.
00:32Assange is set to submit his plea on Wednesday in Saipan,
00:36part of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US Commonwealth.
00:40He declined to travel to the US mainland for proceedings,
00:43and Saipan is closer to his home country Australia,
00:47where, according to court documents, he'll return afterwards.
00:50Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed the development,
00:54though noted the proceedings were crucial and delicate.
00:57Regardless of the views that people have about Mr Assange's activities,
01:02the case has dragged on for too long.
01:05There's nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration,
01:08and we want him brought home to Australia.
01:12Assange's legal woes began in 2010, when Wikileaks, the platform he founded,
01:17published a video of a US helicopter strike in Baghdad that killed civilians and journalists,
01:22as well as incident logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
01:27He was originally charged on 18 counts of conspiring to obtain classified information,
01:32which carried a maximum penalty of 175 years in prison.