WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s lawyers hailed his release on Wednesday (June 26) after he pleaded guilty to violating a US espionage law in a deal that allowed him to go home to Australia. Chief US District Judge Ramona V. Manglona accepted Assange’s guilty plea and released him due to time already served in a British jail.
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NewsTranscript
00:00How does it feel to be a free man, Mr. Assange?
00:03Congratulations!
00:05How do you feel about the sentence, sir?
00:07Quick comment about the sentence.
00:11What's your message to journalists around the world today, Mr. Assange?
00:15Do you think justice was served today?
00:19The prosecution of Julian Assange is unprecedented.
00:23In the hundred years of the Espionage Act,
00:26it has never been used by the United States to pursue a publisher, a journalist, like Mr. Assange.
00:34Mr. Assange revealed truthful, important, and newsworthy information,
00:40including revealing that the United States had committed war crimes.
00:44And he has suffered tremendously in his fight for free speech, for freedom of the press,
00:52and to ensure that the American public and the world community gets truthful and important, newsworthy information.
01:01We firmly believe that Mr. Assange never should have been charged under the Espionage Act
01:06and engaged in exercise that journalists engage in every day, and we're thankful that they do.
01:13It is appropriate, though, for this fight to end,
01:16it is appropriate for the judge, as she did today,
01:19to determine that no additional incarceration of Mr. Assange would be fair, would be appropriate,
01:27and it is time for him to be reunited with his family.
01:30WikiLeaks' work will continue, and Mr. Assange, I have no doubt,
01:36will be a continuing force for freedom of his speech and transparency in government.
01:43He is a powerful voice and a voice that cannot and should not be silenced.
01:48Mr. Assange is grateful for all of the support that he has received
01:53and looks forward to reuniting with his wife and his children and getting back home to Australia.
02:00Thank you.
02:01Today is a historic day.
02:03It brings to an end 14 years of legal battles,
02:06and finally, after 14 years of legal battles, Julian Assange can go home a free man.
02:12This also brings to an end a case which has been recognized
02:17as the greatest threat to the First Amendment in the 21st century.
02:21So it is a huge relief to Julian Assange, to his family, to his friends, to his supporters,
02:26and to us, and to everyone who believes in free speech around the world,
02:30that he can now return home to Australia and be reunited with his family.
02:37I come here today, I support Julian Assange.
02:40I support his journey for freedom and his expression,
02:47to look past the, I want to say, first layer, what we see.
02:51He's bringing something to the people.
02:54It's really hard to take sides considering what's involved.
02:59Stealing secret documents, yet exposing corruption.
03:05It's a fine line, you know, between is he good or bad.
03:09But on the whole, I think he's good.
03:12I think it's good for the people, you know.
03:15Government doesn't like it, but I do.
03:19You know, he's a journalist. It's his job to find things,
03:22and it's his job not to review his sources. We all know that.
03:26But because certain politicians or what have you in the mainland got caught in the wrongdoing,
03:32which probably is Hillary Clinton, because she's pretty good about these things,
03:36they've been following that, and it's been really, I think, a total injustice of what's happened.