WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the US courthouse where he pleaded guilty to espionage.
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SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty Tuesday to a charge of violating the Espionage Act, a day after reaching a plea deal with the United States.
Assange, 52, is best known for releasing classified military and diplomatic cables in 2010. His hearing was held in federal court in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth.
When asked by Chief Justice Ramona Manglona what he had done to constitute the crime charged, Assange, an Australian citizen, replied: “Working as a journalist, I encouraged my source to provide information considered classified in order to to publish them. I believe the First Amendment protected this activity. »
He added: “I think the First Amendment and the Espionage Act are at odds with each other, but I accept that it would be difficult to win such a case given all of these circumstances.”
Assange pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose information related to national defense in a US federal court.
Before his plea, Assange answered Judge Manglona’s basic questions and told him he was waiving his right to a grand jury indictment. Asked by Manglona if he was satisfied with his legal representation, Assange replied: “It might depend on the outcome of the hearing,” prompting laughter.
Under the terms of the deal, Assange faces a sentence of 62 months, equivalent to the time he has already served in Belmarsh prison in the United Kingdom while fighting extradition to the United States. The judge said Assange was required to order WikiLeaks to destroy documents containing classified information, but given the length of this case, such action would likely have minimal impact.
A federal grand jury in Virginia indicted Assange on charges of espionage and computer misuse in 2019, in what the Justice Department described as one of the largest compromises of classified information in American history.
The indictment accused Assange of conspiring with then-military soldier Chelsea Manning to obtain and then release secret reports on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables. Prosecutors said Assange posted those documents on his WikiLeaks site without properly scrubbing them of sensitive information, putting informants and others at serious risk.
Manning was arrested in 2010 and served seven years in prison before President Barack Obama commuted her sentence.
Assange’s case has attracted support from human rights and journalism groups, including Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists, amid concerns that the case against Assange under the espionage does not set a precedent for charging journalists with crimes against national security.
His interactions with the justice system followed a Byzantine path. Assange spent seven years hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after Swedish authorities accused him of sexual assault, an arrangement that seemed to frustrate both Assange and his hosts.
Eventually, Swedish police withdrew their charges, but British authorities later arrested him for allegedly breaching bail.
The U.S. government then sought to extradite him, a process that dragged through the courts for years. The plea agreement avoids further legal action regarding the extradition that had been set for early July.
Rao reported from Saipan; Johnson of Washington
NPR News
