A timeline of Julian Assange’s 14-year quest to avoid extradition

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to plead guilty to espionage charges on Tuesday as part of a deal struck with federal prosecutors, ending his 14-year fight to avoid extradition to the United States and face trial.

Under the plea agreement, the 52-year-old Australian former computer programmer should not receive any prison time.

Here is a chronology of events that have marked Assange’s long legal saga:

2006 – Assange establishes WikiLeaks in Australia and begins publishing secret and other confidential documents.

From April to July 2010 – WikiLeaks begins publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents related to the United States’ wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, provided to the website by military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, then known as Bradley Manning.

August 2010 — Prosecutors in Sweden announce that an arrest warrant has been issued for Assange after two women accused him of rape and molestation. Assange denies the allegations.

December 2010 – Assange surrenders to the police in London in response to the Swedish arrest warrant. He will be released on bail pending an extradition hearing.

February 2011 – A British magistrate’s court orders Assange’s extradition to Sweden. Assange is appealing the verdict.

June 2012 – Assange has taken refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and is asking for political asylum after his appeals have failed.

August 2012 – The Ecuadorian government grants Assange political asylum, allowing him to legally stay at the embassy in London.

August 2013 — Court-martial proceedings against Manning begin, resulting in a conviction on espionage charges. Manning is sentenced to 35 years in prison.

July 2014 — A Swedish judge rejected Assange’s request to dismiss the arrest warrants.

May 2017 – Swedish authorities dropped rape and molestation charges against Assange. His lawyer Per Samuelson calls the decision a “total victory.”

January 2017 — Then-President Barack Obama commutes the sentence of Manning, who was the first person in a military prison to receive gender-reassignment health care.

April 2019 – British authorities arrest Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London and sentence him to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail. At the same time, American prosecutors unveiled an indictment accusing him of conspiring with Manning to hack into the computers of the US Department of Defense in March 2010, which constitutes “one of the largest disclosures of classified information in the history of the United States.”

June 2019 — The US Department of Justice formally asked a British court to extradite Assange to the United States, where he will be charged with burglary.

January 2021 British judge Vanessa Baraitser blocks the attempt to extradite Assange to the United States, recognizing that his mental health may deteriorate in conditions in American prisons. Baraitser ordered Assange’s release from prison.

July 2021 — The U.S. government has been granted permission by the British Supreme Court to appeal a ruling blocking Assange’s extradition.

June 2022 — The British government orders Assange’s extradition to the United States, prompting Assange to appeal.

May 2023 –Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the US government should stop prosecuting Assange. He added that “enough is enough” and that he was worried about Assange’s mental health.

February 2024 – British Supreme Court judges have ruled that Assange can appeal against his extradition to the United States, based on arguments about whether he will receive free speech protection or be disadvantaged because he is not a US citizen.

June 24, 2024 Court documents reveal that the U.S. Department of Justice reached an agreement with Assange to plead guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information. Under the plea agreement, Assange will not face prison time.