Julian Assange to be freed after pleading guilty, ending 14-year legal struggle
The post Julian Assange to be freed after pleading guilty, ending 14-year legal struggle appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.
Julian Assange. Justin Tallis / AFP/ Getty Images WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange has departed the UK after extended negotiations with the US Department of Justice resulted in a plea deal. Assange has left the Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of June 24 UTC, according to details released by WikiLeaks. JULIAN ASSANGE IS FREE Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a… — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 24, 2024 The agreement is not yet formally finalized, and comes after Assange spent five years in a UK jail and nearly seven years in Ecuador’s London embassy. His first destination is Saipan, capital of the US protectorate Northern Mariana Islands, where he’s expected to receive a five-year sentence with credit for time served in the UK. Assange’s arrest in the UK stemmed from breaching bail conditions while seeking asylum to avoid extradition on charges related to publishing classified documents provided by Chelsea Manning. Manning’s own sentence was commuted in 2013 by then-President Obama. The historical development of WikiLeaks and crypto, particularly Bitcoin, has been closely intertwined over the years. A decade ago in a Reddit AMA, Assange said that he wrote about Bitcoin in his book. While WikiLeaks initially refrained from accepting Bitcoin, the organization later adopted it for donations as it faced a financial blockade from state authorities after the Cablegate leaks in 2011. Assange claimed that the initial reluctance stemmed from a “personal request” from Satoshi Nakamoto, according to a report from CoinDesk. This move not only kept WikiLeaks afloat but also significantly boosted Bitcoin’s profile and utility. “There’s lots on bitcoin in…
Filed under: News - @ June 25, 2024 8:16 am