WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walked free today from a court on the US Pacific island territory of Saipan after pleading guilty to violating US espionage law, in a deal that will see him return home to Australia.
Assange, 52, left the court through a throng of TV cameras and photographers without answering questions, then waved as he got into a white SUV.
His release ends a 14-year legal saga in which Assange spent more than five years in a British high-security jail and seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, battling extradition to the US, where he faced 18 criminal charges.
He is set to leave Saipan on a private jet accompanied by Australia’s ambassadors to the US and UK, heading to the Australian capital Canberra, where they are expected to land around 7 PM, according to flight logs.
