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Chancellor of Ecuador says it would be positive if Julian Assange leaves the London embassy
Posted On 11 Jan 2019
Ecuadornews:
If the activist Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, decides to leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been isolated since mid-2012, it will be the most positive solution, said Foreign Minister José Valencia on Thursday.
In statements to the radio FM Mundo said that the asylee has two options: stay indefinitely because the British authorities “will never give a safe conduct for Assange to go to another embassy or a third country, and the other alternative, of course, is that is delivered, it comes out, and we believe it is the most positive. “
When asked how close an eventual resolution of the case is, he replied that “it is impossible to predict”, although he recalled that if Assange decides to remain in the embassy “he will have to always abide by the norms” imposed in Ecuador since October of last year.
Ecuador established a strict special protocol of visits and behavior that regulates the activist’s stay inside the embassy, after he denounced a series of abuses and misconduct on the part of the activist.
“Faced with a breach of these conditions … Ecuador will have no other option but to lift the asylum,” the foreign minister warned.
The founder of WikiLeaks took refuge in the Ecuadorian diplomatic mission in London in June 2012 to evade an extradition order to Sweden, where he was wanted for sexual crimes, whose demands were prescribed last year. The British justice denied requests for freedom almost a year ago because the magistrates considered that it had breached the conditions of the bail.
Although Assange remains in his asylum with his lawyers, he fears that he may be extradited to the United States, a country from which he revealed military and state secrets and where justice has required him to respond for such actions.
Ecuador granted Ecuadorian citizenship to Assange in December 2017 as part of an effort to make him a member of his diplomatic team, which would guarantee certain rights such as legal immunity. However, Britain rejected the strategy and the request to deliver diplomatic status.
Create a participatory fund for the defense of Julian Assange
This same Thursday, the American foundation Courage, dedicated to the defense of the launchers of alerts, initiated a campaign of participative financing for the defense of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The “Support Julian Assange Defense Fund”, created in the participatory financing platform GoFundMe, will be fueled by individual donations that “will only go to the defense of WikiLeaks staff,” Courage said in a statement.
“The situation of Julian Assange in the embassy (…) is increasingly precarious, to the point that his expulsion and detention may be imminent,” said Courage.
According to Courage, “judging Assange for his publications would be a major attack on the freedom of the press in the broad sense, and his transatlantic defense will require contributions from his supporters across the globe.”
The British justice still has a case against him for violating the conditions of his parole when he took refuge in the embassy of Ecuador in 2012. (I)
