A timeline of the legal case involving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange

The drawn-out legal case involving WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has concluded with his guilty plea to obtaining and publishing U.S. military secrets.

In a deal with the U.S. Justice Department, Assange was sentenced Wednesday to the five years he’d already served in a British prison while fighting extradition. It allows him to walk free and resolves the case that centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents.

Here is a look at key events in the case:

— 2006: Assange founded WikiLeaks in Australia. The group begins publishing sensitive or classified documents.

— 2010: In a series of posts, WikiLeaks releases almost half a million documents relating to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

— August 2010: Swedish prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for Assange based on one woman’s allegation of rape and another’s allegation of molestation. The warrant is withdrawn shortly afterward, with prosecutors citing insufficient evidence for the rape allegation. Assange denies the allegations.

— September 2010: Sweden’s director of prosecutions reopens the rape investigation. Assange leaves Sweden for Britain.

— November 2010: Swedish police issue an international arrest warrant for Assange.

— December 2010: Assange surrenders to police in London and is detained pending an extradition hearing. The High Court grants Assange bail.

— February 2011: A district court in Britain rules Assange should be extradited to Sweden.

— June 2012: Assange enters the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, seeking asylum, after his bids to appeal the extradition ruling fail. Police set up an around-the-clock guard to arrest him if he steps outside.

— August 2012: Ecuador grants him political asylum.

— July 2014: A judge in Sweden upholds the arrest