Julian Assange, the hero or villain who ended up agreeing to his freedom

The “primary enemy” of the US for some and a legend for others, Julian Assange, has been launched following reaching an settlement with American justice, which in precept places an finish to an extended authorized battle and permits him to return to his native Australia.

It was the portal that he based, WikiLeaks, that was liable for saying this Tuesday on its X account that Assange was leaving the British high-security jail the place he had been held for 5 years, leaving the UK with the intention of returning to his nation. .

The discharge had been doable following Assange, 52, reached an settlement with the US Division of Justice that places an finish to an extended judicial saga over the leak of labeled paperwork, and that can conclude utterly as soon as he seems. on Wednesday in a courtroom within the Mariana Islands, a US territory within the Pacific, earlier than heading to Australia.

Hero or villain, Assange’s journey from hacker to fighter in opposition to the powers that be is a part of the common battle for freedom of expression for journalistic and human rights organisations, resembling Amnesty Worldwide.

Regardless of not having been convicted of any crime, the Australian has spent nearly fourteen years in captivity in the UK, the final 5 years in London’s high-security Belmarsh jail.

Detention

Initially detained in 2010 on the request of Sweden for a case now closed, Assange was a refugee within the Ecuadorian embassy in London from June 19, 2012 till his expulsion and arrest in April 2019 on the request of the US, which instigated the precise course of.

Throughout his keep on the diplomatic mission he met the Spanish-Swedish Sara González Devant, a part of his authorized workforce and who modified her title to Stella, with whom he had two kids in 2017 (Gabriel) and 2019 (Max), whose existence she revealed. in 2020 by beginning a public marketing campaign for his launch.

Born in Townsville (Australia) on July 3, 1971, the determine of Assange, with pale pores and skin and attribute white hair, is a thriller even to his collaborators, who describe him as charismatic and clever however unpredictable.

The pc programmer, who was mentioned to spend hours at work with out washing, consuming or sleeping, had a nomadic childhood in Australia, the place his mom, artist Christine Ann, always modified residences, escaping from his youthful brother’s father, the who claimed custody.

Process

In his youth he was prosecuted in that nation for pc crimes for accessing, together with his group Worldwide Subversives, protected techniques of official organizations, however he was profitable with a mere high-quality when the choose assessed that his actions responded to curiosity and never legal functions. .

Nonetheless an adolescent, he married a girl with whom in 1989 he had a son, Daniel Assange, now a software program designer.

Within the mid-nineties, Assange labored as a free software program programmer on encryption applications for Linux and collaborated on the e-book ‘Underground: Tales of Hacking, Insanity and Obsession on the Digital Frontier’, by Suelette Dreyfuss (1997), the place he defined his philosophy of not damaging the pc techniques he accessed.

After learning arithmetic and physics on the College of Melbourne (though he didn’t graduate), in 2006 he co-founded WikiLeaks with the mission of exposing authorities info that, in his opinion, ought to be accessible to residents.

It got here to mild when in April 2010 WikiLeaks launched a controversial video, leaked by former US soldier Chelsea Manning, by which US troops shot at civilians in Iraq in 2007, in addition to different alleged atrocities in Afghanistan and 250,000 cables. diplomats who embarrassed world leaders.

espionage

These revelations have been thought of crimes of espionage and pc intrusion by the US, though his protection thought of the accusations politically motivated.

Controversial, daring and perseverant, Assange additionally devoted himself, amongst different causes, to aiding Catalan independence supporters within the face of the 2017 referendum, declared unlawful by Spanish Justice.

Hours following his introduced return to Australia, and through a technical cease in Bangkok, WikiLeaks revealed as we speak on the remark.

Washington / EFE