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Julian Assange To Plead Guilty In Exchange For Release
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange agreed to plead guilty Monday to a felony count of illegally disseminating national security material in a plea deal.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange agreed to plead guilty Monday to a felony count of illegally disseminating national security material in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department, according to court documents. Assange is scheduled to appear in federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth, at 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday, to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and disclose classified national defense information, an Espionage Act charge, according to a letter from Justice Department official Matthew McKenzie to U.S. District Judge Ramona Manglona. The plea, which must be approved by a judge, will bring to an end a years-long battle that began in late 2009 when, according to the government, Assange conspired with Chelsea Manning, a military intelligence analyst, to obtain and subsequently publish secret reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and sensitive U.S. diplomatic cables on his Wikileaks website.
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