The Prime Minister of Australia is “pleased” by the end of the judicial “saga” around Assange

The US Embassy in Canberra says that “the return of Julian Assange to Australia puts an end to this long and difficult case”

June 26 () –

The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, expressed this Wednesday “pleased” by the end of the judicial “saga” surrounding the founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, after a United States court accepted the agreement by which acknowledges a charge of espionage in exchange for a sentence equivalent to the more than five years he spent in a maximum security prison in the United Kingdom.

Albanese has reiterated that “regardless of one’s opinions on Assange’s activities,” the legal case against him “has dragged on for too long,” while praising the work of the Australian authorities in achieving this result, according to Australian television channel ABC.

“This is what it means to stand up for Australians around the world. It means getting the job done, getting results,” he explained, before insisting that the majority of Australians “will be pleased that this saga has come to an end.” and because (Assange) can be reunited with his family.”

For her part, the United States ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, has highlighted that “the return of Julian Assange to Australia puts an end to this long and difficult case,” according to a brief statement published by the legation through its account on social network

“The United States thanks the Government of Australia for its commitment and assistance during this process,” he said, at a time when the plane in which Assange is traveling after his appearance before a court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a American territory in the Pacific Ocean, is heading towards Australia.

Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, has published a photograph of the Wikileaks founder leaving the Saipan court after Judge Ramona Manglona’s decision to accept the agreed settlement and grant him freedom. “Julian leaves the federal court in Saipan a free man. I can’t stop crying,” she said.

The day before, the High Court of London released him on bail following the agreement, after which he boarded a flight from the United Kingdom to Saipan, with a stop in the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, to refuel before continuing his trip. to destination, where he appeared this Wednesday before the aforementioned court.

Assange was arrested by British authorities on April 11, 2019, after leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he remained a refugee for almost seven years. Since then, he has been in a maximum security prison, under an arrest warrant issued from the United States.

At the end of May, the High Court in London ruled in favor of the Wikileaks founder to allow him to appeal against his extradition order to the North American country, where it was feared that he would face a battery of charges that could involve up to 175 years in prison. Assange has defended that the information revealed in 2010 about government corruption and human rights abuses served to publicize war crimes committed by the United States.