Julian Assange agrees to plea deal with Biden administration that will allow him to avoid imprisonment in US

CNN —

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge related to his alleged role in one of the largest US government breaches of classified material, as part of a deal with the Justice Department that will allow him to avoid imprisonment in the United States, according to newly filed federal court documents.

Under the terms of the new agreement, Justice Department prosecutors will seek a 62-month sentence – which is equal to the amount of time Assange has served in a high-security prison in London while he fought extradition to the US. The plea deal would credit that time served, allowing Assange to immediately return to Australia, his native country.

The plea deal must still be approved by a federal judge, but as of Monday morning, Assange had been released from a UK prison, according to WikiLeaks.

“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 plane and departed the UK,” WikiLeaks said a Tuesday statement.

A video uploaded by the group showed a black van traveling on a motorway followed by footage of Assange boarding a plane.

A federal judge in the Northern Mariana Islands set a plea hearing and sentencing for Wednesday morning, according to the US District Court there. Justice Department prosecutors had asked the court for the proceedings to take place on the same day because Assange was resistant to setting foot in the continental US for his guilty plea, according to a letter from prosecutors.

The court on the islands is near Australia, where Assange is a citizen and