Julian Assange's $520K Flight Debt: Urgent Fundraising Campaign Launched

Hours before WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was freed on Wednesday, it was revealed by his wife, Stella Assange, on Tuesday that the cost of his return flight was half a million dollars.

Donations were appealed for by Stella to cover the USD 520,000 debt for Julian's jet, in a fundraising campaign on X where she stated, "The massive cost of Julian's travel to freedom amounts to USD 520,000, which he is required to pay back to the Australian government for charter Flight VJ199."

Stella mentioned that Julian was not permitted to fly on commercial airlines or routes to Saipan and then onward to Australia. Any contribution, big or small, was appreciated. At the time of reporting, 56 per cent of the crowdfunding goal for Julian had been collected, amounting to £296,341. The last donation will be received for the project on July 23, 2024.

Julian Assange Walks Free With $520K Flight Debt

Julian Assange was released from a court on the US Pacific island territory of Saipan after pleading guilty to violating US espionage law under a deal that allowed him to return straight home to Australia, on Wednesday.

His release marks the end of a 14-year legal saga, during which Assange spent over five years in a British high-security jail and seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London while fighting extradition to the US, where he faced 18 criminal charges.

During the three-hour hearing, a guilty plea was entered by Assange to one criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified national defense documents, but he asserted that he believed his activities were protected by the US Constitution's First Amendment, which ensures free speech.

Chief US District Judge Ramona V Manglona accepted his guilty plea and granted his release due to the time already served in a British jail.