London (CNN) Julian Assange has been sentenced to just under a year in a UK prison on Wednesday after he was found guilty of violating his bail conditions when he entered Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden in 2012.

"You had a choice and the course of action you chose was to commit an offense," Judge Deborah Taylor said. "You have not surrendered willingly. Had the government of Ecuador not permitted entry to the embassy, you would not have voluntarily come before the court," she added, before handing down an "imprisonment of 50 weeks."

Assange was wanted in Sweden for questioning over sexual assault and rape allegations. He faces a separate hearing on possible extradition to the United States over a computer hacking conspiracy charge on Thursday.

Judge Taylor said Assange would be eligible for release after serving half the sentence. but that any parole would be "subject to conditions and outcome of any other proceedings" against him.

Reacting to the ruling, Jennifer Robinson, one of the lawyers for the whistleblower, told reporters her client's case "has always been about the risk of extradition to the United States."

"We've been saying since 2010 that this threat [of extradition] is real. The focus of our energies will now be on fighting that extradition request and that fight starts tomorrow," she added.

within Ecuador's central London embassy came to an Charges relating to Assange's bail were formally laid at Westminster Magistrates' Court on April 11, hours after the 47-year-old's nearly seven-year sanctuarywithin Ecuador's central London embassy came to an abrupt and dramatic end

The WikiLeaks founder appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday wearing jeans, a T-shirt and a blazer, with a clipped beard and freshly-cut hair.

The session started later than expected and there were audio issues in the court room. Assange looked stoic and merely nodded at protestors who waved at him and flashed peace signs.

At the start of the hearing, the judge asked Assange if he understood he was being committed for sentencing, to which he replied, "I understand that I am committed," adding "I don't know the details."

An artist's impression of Julian Assange in court on Wednesday during a sentencing hearing over breaching UK bail conditions in 2012.

In mitigation for the Australian computer programmer, defense lawyer Mark Summers said his client had been living "in overwhelming fear" of potential rendition from Sweden to the US over WikiLeaks disclosures.

"As these threats rained down on him from America, these threats dominated everything as far as the proceedings. They dominated his thoughts," Summers said before making reference to Guantanamo Bay prison , strip searches and torture.

Summers then read a letter from Assange to the court.

"I apologize ... to those who feel I disrespected them. This is not what I wanted or intended," Assange stated in the prepared letter. "I did what I thought at the time was the best and perhaps only thing I could have done."

Supporters cried out "shame on you" as the judge delivered her verdict.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at court in London on Wednesday.

US extradition hearing

Separately on Thursday, the WikiLeaks founder will face the first of multiple extradition hearings over a criminal charge in the US. He has been charged with helping former Army intelligence specialist Chelsea Manning obtain access to US Defense Department computers in 2010 in order to reveal secret government documents.

The charge of one count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion was kept under seal for over a year until his arrest in London three weeks ago.

Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks to the media from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in May 2017. Assange, founder of the website WikiLeaks, has been a key figure in major leaks of classified government documents, cables and videos. Hide Caption 1 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange holds a copy of The Guardian newspaper in London on July 26, 2010, a day after WikiLeaks posted more than 90,000 classified documents related to the Afghanistan War. Hide Caption 2 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange attends a seminar at the Swedish Trade Union Confederation in Stockholm on August 14, 2010. Six days later, Swedish prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest based on allegations of sexual assault from two women. Assange has always denied wrongdoing. Hide Caption 3 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange, in London, displays a page from WikiLeaks on October 23, 2010. The day before, WikiLeaks released approximately 400,000 classified military documents from the Iraq War. Hide Caption 4 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange and his bodyguards are seen after a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2010. It was the month WikiLeaks began releasing diplomatic cables from US embassies. Hide Caption 5 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange sits behind the tinted window of a police vehicle in London on December 14, 2010. Assange had turned himself in to London authorities on December 7 and was released on bail and put on house arrest on December 16. In February 2011, a judge ruled in support of Assange's extradition to Sweden. Assange's lawyers filed an appeal. Hide Caption 6 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange In October 2011, a month after WikiLeaks released more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables, Assange speaks to demonstrators from the steps of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Hide Caption 7 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange leaves the High Court in London in December 2011. He was taking his extradition case to the British Supreme Court. Hide Caption 8 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange leaves the Supreme Court in February 2012. In May of that year, the court denied his appeal against extradition. Hide Caption 9 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange addresses the media and his supporters from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on August 19, 2012. A few days earlier, Ecuador announced that it had granted asylum to Assange. In his public address, Assange demanded that the United States drop its "witch hunt" against WikiLeaks. Hide Caption 10 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange speaks from a window of the Ecuadorian Embassy in December 2012. Hide Caption 11 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange addresses the Oxford Union Society from the Ecuadorian Embassy in January 2013. Hide Caption 12 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange appears with Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino on the balcony of the embassy in June 2013. Hide Caption 13 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange speaks during a panel discussion at the South By Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, in March 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange attends a news conference inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August 2014. Hide Caption 15 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange is seen on a video screen in March 2015, during an event on the sideline of a United Nations Human Rights Council session. Hide Caption 16 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange, on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy, holds up a United Nations report in February 2016. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that Assange was being arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom. Hide Caption 17 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange speaks to the media in May 2017, after Swedish prosecutors had dropped their investigation of rape allegations against Assange. But Assange acknowledged he was unlikely to walk out of the embassy any time soon. "The UK has said it will arrest me regardless," he said. "The US CIA Director (Mike) Pompeo and the US attorney general have said that I and other WikiLeaks staff have no ... First Amendment rights, that my arrest and the arrest (of) my other staff is a priority. That is not acceptable." Hide Caption 18 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange was seen for the first time in months during a hearing via teleconference in Quito, Ecuador, in October 2018. The hearing was then postponed due to translation difficulties. Hide Caption 19 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange A van displays images of Assange and Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who supplied thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on Friday, April 5. A senior Ecuadorian official said no decision has been made to expel Assange from the embassy. According to WikiLeaks tweets, sources had told the organization that Assange could be kicked out of the embassy within "hours to days." Hide Caption 20 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange A screen grab from video footage shows the dramatic moment when Assange was hauled out of the Ecuadorian Embassy by police on Thursday, April 11. Assange was arrested for "failing to surrender to the court" over a warrant issued in 2012. Officers made the initial move to detain Arrange after Ecuador withdrew his asylum and invited authorities into the embassy, citing the Australian's bad behavior. Hide Caption 21 of 22 Photos: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Assange gestures from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London on April 11. US authorities have also issued an extradition warrant for Assange. The US Department of Justice confirmed Assange has been indicted on conspiracy with Manning. Hide Caption 22 of 22

Under UK law, the US government has 65 days from arrest -- so until June 15 -- to provide full extradition papers to a British district judge.

Robinson, one of Assange's lawyers, told CNN on Saturday: "It is a matter of international concern that a publisher is being held in a high-security prison facing extradition to the US for his work that has won journalism awards the world over. We are very concerned about his health."

Robinson added: "He is grateful for the solidarity shown around the world."

In the weeks since his arrest, Assange has been held on remand at HMP Belmarsh in Thamesmead, southeast London.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was being held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison.

One of the most secure facilities in England and Wales, Belmarsh prison has the capacity to hold over 900 inmates and is well known for once housing infamous terror suspects Abu Hamza al-Masri and Anjem Choudary within its high-security unit.

Andy Keen-Downs, chief executive of Pact , a rehabilitation charity that provides family services at prisons across the country, said Belmarsh receives a mixture of inmates who are allocated single or shared cells.

"In the middle of the prison is the area built for high-security prisoners," Keen-Downs explained.

"Conditions are very basic. Prison staff work hard to keep prisoners safe, but like most prisons there are occasions when there could be violence. It could be a very intimidating atmosphere," he continued.