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Assange was reportedly released from Belmarsh maximum security prison and is on his way to Saipan ahead of release and return to Australia
Here is the letter filed by the US Justice Department late on Monday. It says:
Your honour
We are attaching the electronically signed felony Information in the above-captioned matter and respectfully request that, as soon as possible, the clerk docket this letter and Information in order to provide public notice of the Rule 11 hearing scheduled before Your Honor in Saipan for Wednesday, 26 June 2024 at 9am, during which we anticipate that the defendant will plead guilty to the charge in the Information of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States, in violation of 18 US 793 (g) and be sentences by the Court for that offense.
According to reports WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the US Justice Department that will free him from prison and resolve a long-running legal saga that centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents, according to court papers filed late Monday.
Assange is scheduled to appear in the federal court in the Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific, to where it is anticipated he will plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information, the Justice Department said in a letter filed in court.
He is expected to return to Australia after his plea and sentencing, which is scheduled for Wednesday morning, local time in Saipan, the largest island in the Mariana Islands.
The deal appears to ensures that Assange will admit guilt while also sparing him from any additional prison time.
