FAN-0041 · Plea agreement
United States v. Julian Paul Assange: plea agreement (District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, June 2024)
Agreement under which I pleaded guilty in Saipan to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information and received a 62-month time-served sentence, ending the US case.
About this record
The plea agreement in my case, Case No. 1:24-cr-00014, was filed in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands on 25 June 2024 together with a one-count criminal information. I agreed to waive indictment and plead guilty to conspiring to obtain and to communicate documents relating to the national defence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 793(g), an offence carrying a maximum of ten years' imprisonment.
The agreement was made under Rule 11(c)(1)(C) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, binding the court once accepted. The parties recommended a sentence of time served – crediting the approximately 62 months I had spent in HMP Belmarsh since 11 April 2019 – and no fine. In return the United States agreed to dismiss the Virginia indictment, withdraw its extradition request to the United Kingdom and bring no further charges for earlier conduct. I agreed to take all action within my control to have unpublished information held by me or WikiLeaks returned to the United States or destroyed, and to provide a sworn affidavit if I instructed WikiLeaks' editors to destroy it.
At a hearing in Saipan on 26 June 2024 (local time), Chief Judge Ramona Manglona accepted the plea and sentenced me to time served, after which I left for Australia. The Department of Justice said the venue reflected my opposition to travelling to the continental United States and the court's proximity to Australia.
Provenance
The plea agreement and criminal information were filed on the court's public docket and published by the US Department of Justice with its press release of 25 June 2024 (US Eastern time). In court, according to NPR, I said: 'Working as a journalist, I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information. I believe that the First Amendment protected that activity.'
The High Court in London recorded that the agreement had been signed on 19 June 2024 and that I had left the United Kingdom on bail on 24 June 2024. After the United States withdrew its extradition request on 26 June 2024, the High Court discharged me on 28 June 2024 and quashed the Home Secretary's extradition order.
Key facts
| Case number | 1:24-cr-00014 (D.N.M.I.) |
|---|---|
| Charge | Conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information, 18 U.S.C. § 793(g) |
| Plea entered | 26 June 2024, Saipan |
| Judge | Chief Judge Ramona Manglona |
| Sentence | Time served (62 months); no fine |
| Agreement type | Binding, under Fed. R. Crim. P. 11(c)(1)(C) |
Sources
- WikiLeaks Founder Pleads Guilty and Is Sentenced for Conspiring to Obtain and Disclose Classified National Defense Information (25 June 2024) — US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs (Official record)justice.gov
- Plea Agreement, United States v. Julian Paul Assange, No. 1:24-cr-00014 (D.N.M.I., filed 25 June 2024) — US Department of Justice (Original publication)justice.gov
- Criminal Information, United States v. Julian Paul Assange, No. 1:24-cr-00014 (D.N.M.I.) — US Department of Justice (Original publication)justice.gov
- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is free, ending years-long legal saga (25 June 2024) — NPR (Reporting)npr.org
- High Court order of 25 June 2024 (PDF) — Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (Official record)judiciary.uk
- High Court order of 28 June 2024 discharging Assange (PDF) — Courts and Tribunals Judiciary (Official record)judiciary.uk
More from The Assange Case: Legal Record
| Published | Cat. no. | Title | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024-03-26 | FAN-0040 | Assange v Government of the United States of America [2024] EWHC 700 (Admin) Divisional Court ruling on my renewed application for leave to appeal: six grounds refused, three – free speech, nationality and the death penalty – adjourned pending US assurances. | Court judgment |
| 2021-12-10 | FAN-0039 | Government of the United States of America v Assange [2021] EWHC 3313 (Admin) Divisional Court judgment allowing the US appeal against my discharge after accepting diplomatic assurances on my conditions of detention, and directing that the case be sent to the Home Secretary. | Court judgment |
| 2021-01-04 | FAN-0038 | USA v Julian Assange: judgment of Westminster Magistrates' Court (4 January 2021) District Judge Vanessa Baraitser's ruling refusing the US extradition request because my mental condition and risk of suicide made extradition oppressive under section 91 of the Extradition Act 2003. | Court judgment |
| 2019-05-23 | FAN-0036 | United States v. Julian Paul Assange: 18-count superseding indictment (May 2019) Superseding indictment of 23 May 2019 charging me with 17 Espionage Act offences and one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion over the 2010 disclosures by Chelsea Manning. | Indictment |
| 2019-04-11 | FAN-0035 | United States v. Julian Paul Assange: indictment (March 2018) Sealed one-count indictment returned in the Eastern District of Virginia in March 2018 charging me with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion; unsealed on the day of my arrest in London. | Indictment |
| 2016-02-05 | FAN-0026 | UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion No. 54/2015 (Julian Assange) Opinion of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention finding that my deprivation of liberty by Sweden and the United Kingdom was arbitrary; made public on 5 February 2016 and rejected by both governments. | UN legal opinion |