Julian Assange Sentenced to 50 Weeks in British Prison
LONDON—Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in prison after being found guilty of bail-skipping charges in Britain.
The WikiLeaks founder was arrested and dragged out of London’s Ecuadorian embassy by British police in April. For the seven years he was holed up in the building, he had an outstanding warrant for jumping bail in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced rape charges.
Assange apologized in court for breaching his bail—but it wasn’t enough for the judge show him any leniency. Fifty weeks was just below the maximum possible sentence of 12 months in prison, and the judge told Assange that his case was “exceptional in seriousness” and said “by entering the embassy, you deliberately put yourself out of reach.”