WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walked free on Wednesday (June 26) from a court on the U.S. Pacific island territory of Saipan after pleading guilty to violating U.S. espionage law, in a deal that will see him return home to Australia, Reuters reports.
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 U.S., where he faced 18 criminal charges.
He is set to leave Saipan on a private jet accompanied by Australia’s ambassadors to the U.S. and UK, heading to the Australian capital Canberra, where they are expected to land around 7 p.m. (0900 GMT), according to flight logs.
