London: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s wife Stella said she was “elated” that he will be a “free man” after a US judge signs off on his landmark plea deal on Wednesday.
Stella Assange said the end of the years-long legal drama that saw him board a plane from London to Bangkok on Monday had been a “whirlwind of emotions”.
“I’m just elated. Frankly, it’s just incredible,” the South African-born rights campaigner told BBC radio.
“We weren’t really sure until the last 24 hours that it was actually happening.”
Assange was on Monday freed on bail from a high-security prison in southeast London ahead of a plea hearing expected to take place in remote US territory.
He had been held in jail for five years as he fought extradition to the United States which sought to prosecute him for revealing military secrets.
He has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defence information, according to a document filed in court in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific where the hearing is expected to take place.
Stella Assange said the plea deal involved her husband pleading guilty to the single charge.
“The charge concerns the Espionage Act and obtaining and disclosing national defence information,” she said.
“The important thing here is that the deal involved time served, that if he signed it, he would be able to walk free,” she added.