After a 14-year legal battle, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to plead guilty to violating U.S. espionage law. The plea deal will finally bring an end to his British legal odyssey and pave the way for his return to Australia.
Assange, aged 52, has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents. This agreement comes after Assange spent over five years in a British high-security prison and seven years confined to the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.
During his time at the embassy, Assange fought accusations of sex crimes in Sweden and attempted to evade extradition to the U.S., where he faced 18 criminal charges. With this plea deal, he will soon be set free and can finally return home to Australia.