Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, agreed to plead guilty on Wednesday to a single charge of violating the US espionage law, ending his 14-year legal battle in Britain.
The charge relates to his involvement in obtaining and disclosing classified United States national defense documents, Reuters reported, citing filings in the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
The plea deal, which could allow him to return to Australia, comes after years of legal struggles, including a long stay in a high-security British prison and seeking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Previously, the 52-year-old Australian editor also faced accusations of sexual crimes in Sweden and fought extradition to the United States, where he faced 18 criminal charges.
Assange will be sentenced on Wednesday to 62 months in prison already served, at a hearing in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, at 9 a.m. local time.
The U.S. territory in the Pacific was chosen because of Assange's opposition to traveling to the continental United States and because of its proximity to Australia, prosecutors said.
Assange left maximum-security Belmarsh prison in the early hours of Monday, before being released on bail by London's High Court and then boarding a flight, his wife, Stella, said.
“I feel elated,” Stella, who flew to Australia from London on Sunday with the couple's two children, told Reuters. “I'm also worried… Until it's fully approved, I worry, but it looks like we're there.”
A video posted on X by Wikileaks showed Assange dressed in a blue shirt and jeans signing a document before boarding a private jet.
He had recently been granted permission to appeal against approval of his extradition to the United States and the case was due to be heard at London's High Court next month, a factor his wife said helped galvanize settlement talks.
