Julian Assange, the creator of the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks, has finally been released from prison after a 14-year legal battle to avoid extradition to the United States. The 52-year-old Australian agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents.

As part of the plea deal, Assange was sentenced to 62 months in prison, which is the amount of time he has already served in the U.K. This means he will not face any additional jail time. The hearing took place in Saipan, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, due to Assange's reluctance to travel to the mainland U.S. and its proximity to Australia.

Assange's legal saga began in 2010 when WikiLeaks published classified U.S. military documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was accused of endangering lives by disclosing the information, while his supporters consider him a whistleblower who exposed U.S. wrongdoing.

After the hearing, Assange boarded a flight to his home country of Australia, where he was welcomed as a free man. His wife, Stella Assange, expressed her joy on social media, saying, "I can't stop crying."

The case has been a major test for press freedom, with Assange's advocates arguing that the prosecution under the Espionage Act sets a dangerous precedent for journalists. However, the U.S. government maintains that Assange's actions were criminal and not protected by the First Amendment.