Julian Assange can make a deal with the US Department of Justice

The founder of Wikileaks, Julian Assange, who is in prison in Great Britain, is negotiating with the US Department of Justice, The Wall Street Journal reports in an exclusive material. Now the USA is demanding his extradition from London, and in an American court, Assange faces 175 years in prison on charges of espionage and disclosure of classified information.

However, as journalists claim, Assange can make a deal with the American Ministry of Justice. Then his case will be reclassified under a lighter article – about improper handling of secret documents. In this case, he can be released taking into account the five-year term already served in Great Britain.

WSJ sources note that if Assange and the American legal department reach an agreement, he will be able to leave the British prison without even coming to the US territory for court hearings. The terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Now Assange is trying to challenge in the Supreme Court of Great Britain the decision on his extradition to the United States, approved by the British Home Office in 2022.

• The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been charged with a total of 18 charges in the United States, including espionage violations, in connection with WikiLeaks’ publication of secret documents of various American agencies. The project also published documents allegedly obtained by Russian hackers.
• In 2012, Julian Assange received asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, fearing extradition to Sweden. The United States demanded his extradition. In 2019, Ecuador granted asylum to Assange, and he was arrested by the British authorities. Since then, he has been in London’s Belmarsh prison, the court allowed his extradition.
• Many human rights defenders, civil activists and authoritative mass media demanded that the charges against Assange be dropped and he be released, arguing that the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder violates freedom of speech and thus contradicts the American Constitution.