WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be reunited with his wife and family after touching down on home soil as a free man for the first time in more than a decade.
Assange, 52, touched down at RAAF Fairbairn in Canberra shortly before 7:40pm (AEST) on Wednesday after flying in on a chartered plane from Saipan, a tiny US territory more than 5,000km from Australia, where he faced court earlier in the day.
His father John Shipton and his wife Stella Assange were waiting for him.
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Those close to him say family time will be his priority upon his return, but it is not yet clear how his first day at home will play out.
The two children she shares with Stella have never met their father outside of prison and she said they were “very excited” to see him.
“It’s hard to describe. We’ve been waiting for this for so long,” Stella said as she prepared for her husband’s return.
After five years in prison, seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London and two years under house arrest, Assange finally ended the marathon legal saga that spanned continents on Wednesday by pleading guilty to violating the US Espionage Act.
The deal with the US Department of Justice requires Assange to plead guilty to one felony count but allows him to return to his home country of Australia without serving time in a US prison.
The judge sentenced him to the five years he has already spent behind bars in the United Kingdom, fighting extradition to the United States.
The plea agreement resolves a criminal case related to the receipt and release of military diaries and diplomatic cables detailing wrongdoing by the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange is barred from entering America without prior approval as part of the deal.
The hearing was held in Saipan because Assange opposed being stopped on the US mainland and because it is close to Australia.
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