CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has left a U.S. court a free man Wednesday after pleading guilty to one charge, instead of multiple charges he was originally facing.
A day after he was released from British jail under an agreement with the U.S. government, Assange appeared before the United States District Court based in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a remote U.S. territory in the Pacific.
The 52-year-old whistle blower pleaded guilty to an espionage charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents, in order to avoid potential imprisonment in the U.S.
In her sentencing, Judge Ramona Manglona said Assange was entitled to a credit of 62 months imprisonment at a British jail, and 'will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man.'
Assange admitted to his role in the conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act and received a court-imposed 62-month time-served sentence, reflecting the time he served in U.K. prison as a result of the U.S. charges,' the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
DOJ added that pursuant to the plea agreement, as a convicted criminal, Assange is prohibited from returning to the United States without permission.
BBC quoted Assange's family as saying that they will seek a presidential pardon.
Assange flew to Australia, and is due to land in capital Canberra.
It marked the end to his 12-year battle against extradition to the United States.
An Australian editor, publisher and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006, he came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of highly classified materials from US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. It included footage of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, U.S. military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and U.S. diplomatic cables.
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