WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be sentenced Wednesday for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.
The Australian whistle-blower, who was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador gave him up, could face a 12-month prison sentence when he appears at Southwark Crown Court at 10.30am (09.30 GMT).
Assange fled to the embassy in 2012 after a British judge ordered his extradition to face Swedish allegations of sexual assault and rape, which he strongly denied.
He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents.
There is no longer an active investigation in Sweden and the extradition request has lapsed.