WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaves UK prison, will regain freedom after plea deal

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finally set to regain his freedom! According to a report by BBC, Assange is expected to appear in a US court on Wednesday and formally reach a plea agreement. After enduring 14 years of legal battles and 1,901 days of imprisonment, he will finally be able to return to Australia and reunite with his family.

Founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange

Julian Assange is an Australian journalist and activist who founded the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks gained international attention in 2010 when it released a series of leaked events provided by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, revealing a U.S. military helicopter shooting Reuters journalists in Baghdad, as well as publishing thousands of classified documents showing the killing of hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents during the Afghanistan war, raising concerns about America's involvement in foreign conflicts.

Initially facing 18 charges under the Espionage Act, the WikiLeaks founder was accused of disclosing U.S. confidential military records and diplomatic information related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

As part of a long legal battle, Assange has spent the past five years in a UK prison, resisting U.S. attempts to extradite him. According to the BBC, Assange left the UK prison on Tuesday and flew to the U.S. territory of the North Mariana Islands in the Pacific, where his plea agreement is expected to be finalized before returning to his home country of Australia.

AssangeDAO Governance Token JUSTICE Surges 310% in Seven Days

In February 2022, AssangeDAO, which raised defense funds for Assange, raised over 17,000 ETH through Juicebox, with Vitalik also contributing donations. Donors received governance token JUSTICE as a reward. However, the use of funds by AssangeDAO has been controversial.

Is AssangeDAO viable? What is the community busy with after donating to Pak NFT

AssangeDAO member Silke Noa stated that out of the 16,593 ETH raised by AssangeDAO, over 11,000 ETH ($37 million) has been used for legal defense and publicity activities. She also explained that due to security reasons, fund allocation could not be fully transparent, and they are urging the Wau Holland Foundation, which manages the fees, to provide detailed accounts of fund distribution.

According to CoinGecko, the token JUSTICE of AssangeDAO has surged 310% in the past seven days.