Assange to return to Australia after US trial

SYDNEY, Australia | TASS | WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be sentenced to more than five years in prison after pleading guilty, including the time he has already spent in detention in the United Kingdom, the office of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

According to the statement, the journalist will plead guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified information and will be sentenced to 62 months in prison, which he has already spent in a London jail. “We are aware Australian citizen Mr. Julian Assange has legal proceedings scheduled in the United States. Given those proceedings are ongoing, it is not appropriate to provide further comment. The Australian government continues to provide consular assistance to Mr. Assange,” the prime minister’s office said, noting that the WikiLeaks founder will be able to return to his home country after the trial in the United States.

The session, during which Assange may enter a plea to some of the charges, will be held at the court on the island of Saipan (Northern Mariana Islands) on June 26 at 9:00 a.m. local time (11:00 p.m. GMT on June 25).

Assange has been in Belmarsh prison since 2019, where he was placed after being removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London. For more than five years, Washington sought from the UK his extradition to the United States, where he is accused of crimes related to the largest case of disclosure of classified information in American history.