WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange is expected to plead guilty as part of a plea deal with the U.S. that could end his imprisonment in Britain.
Assange, 52, has been held in a prison outside London for the last five years and fought extradition to the United States.
U.S. prosecutors filed criminal paperwork against Assange that is typically a preliminary step before a plea deal.
It outlines a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
Court filings indicate that Assange’s plea agreement calls for a sentence of 62 months time served in custody.
However, Assange is expected to get credit for the give years he has already served and could face no new prison time.
Julian Assange is an editor and founder of WikiLeaks, a source that provides news leaks and classified information obtained by anonymous sources.
WikiLeaks rose to prominence in 2010 as it published a series of leaks provided by a US Army intelligence analyst named Chelsea Manning.
The information included the Baghdad airstrike Collateral Murder video, the Afghanistan war logs, the Iraq war logs, and Cablegate.
Being in fear of the US government, Assange took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London.
He was granted asylum by Ecuador due to fears of political persecution and extradition to the United States.
Assange remained in the Embassy of Ecuador in London for approximately seven years.
