Julian Assange receives 50-week sentence

A British judge on Wednesday sentenced Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail and hiding in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for seven years. Judge Deborah Taylor at the Southwark Crown Court said Assange’s stay at the embassy cost British taxpayers $21 million and was a “deliberate attempt to delay justice.”

Assange originally claimed asylum at the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape allegations. The United States has also charged him in connection with the publication of classified government documents on WikiLeaks, which Assange founded. Assange’s lawyer, Mark Summers, said his client remained in the embassy for so long because he feared extradition to the United States. Summers read a letter to the court in which Assange apologized for his actions. “I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps the only thing that could be done—which I hoped might lead to a legal resolution being reached between Ecuador and Sweden that would protect me from the worst of my fears.”