Charges under the Espionage Actedit
On 23 May 2019, Assange was indicted on 17 new charges relating to the Espionage Act of 1917 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.The charges carried a maximum sentence of 170 years in prison:
- Conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information;
- Conspiracy to commit computer intrusions;
- Obtaining national defence information (seven counts); and
- Disclosure of national defence information (nine counts).
The charges are related to his involvement with Chelsea Manning, a former US Army intelligence analyst who gave Assange classified information concerning matters surrounding the US Defense Department. The new charges relate to obtaining and publishing the secret documents. The three charges related to publication concern documents which revealed the names of sources in dangerous places putting them "at a grave and imminent risk" of harm or detention
