Previous Story
Lenín Moreno: If the British government guarantees the life of Julian Assange, what is best for him is to surrender
Posted On 06 Dec 2018
Ecuadornerws:
The President of the Republic, Lenin Moreno, in an interview with the journalist Carmen Aristegui, whose second part aired on Wednesday night CNN En Español,said that if the British government guarantees the life of Julian Assange, what is best for him is surrender to the justice of that country.
“We will protect the rights of Mr. Assange, that is why we are looking for a concerted solution … If the British government guarantees his life, I believe that what is best for him is to surrender to British justice … And afterwards of a few months in prison, freedom, “said the head of state.
“It is a problem that we inherited, despite that we are trying to find a solution,a solution that defends Mr. Assange’s right to life.” Our fundamental concern is that he could be deported to a country that could surely condemns him. We have made the consultations, we are talking permanently with the British government, about what would be the status of Mr. Assange the moment he would leave the Embassy (of Ecuador) voluntarily.We have asked for his life to be guaranteed. Yes, the guarantee of life is there, because in the British Constitution it is forbidden for a person who is in his territory to be sent abroad, where they can judge him and condemn him to death, “Moreno said.
“We have the official communication of this, we have put it in consideration of the legal prosecutor of Mr. Assange and of Mr. Assange himself to make their decision, they are considering it, to surrender to the British justice(Assange) has a prison order because he did not appear before the justice when it corresponded to him … The British government is very collaborative with the management “, added the ecuadorian president.
On the issue of the restrictions that Assange would have during his stay with asylumin the Embassy of Ecuador in London, Moreno said that “our concern with the use of the Internet is precisely that he continues to intervene,interfering in the policy of friendly countries. He is delicate on his part and it is not convenient for Ecuador that friendly countries claim us that there is intervention. “
Meeting of Moreno with Manafort
On the meetings with Paul Manafort, former political advisor of Donald Trump, and whois now in legal problems, the Ecuadorian president said: “I met with Manafort, I had won the elections and Mr. Manafort went with some Chinese investors to ask us the possibility of us concessioning the country’s electric power, Manafort had been an advisor to President Trump in the elections (of2016), and he did not have any process, that was very clear, he had absolutely no process.
Moreno said he did not know about meetings between Manafort and Assange at the Embassy of Ecuador in London, according to publications made by the British newspaper The Guardian. “We discovered that Mr. Assange had people inside the Embassy who belonged to the previous government and that they were surelyhelping him with his affairs … Mr. Assange had, has and may have the right to receive visits, that right”.
On what Julian Assange represents for the President of Ecuador, Moreno stressed that “I have always considered inappropriate the fact that private mails from other people are involved, including President Rafael Correa made adecision based on a WikiLeaks delivered by Mr. Assange regarding an ambassador who gave her personal opinion to her State Department regarding an authority,but it was a private courier, and the Ambassador (from the United States) was expelled from the country by that private courier people have the right to privacy and that the moment that privacy is going to intervene must be only with judicial authorization, and whoever does that is not a person who falls within what I consider to be the group of people who practice human values ”.
Regarding the question of the journalist Aristegui, on whether Assange can be considered a criminal, Moreno said “that must be determined by justice … I think he does wrong things”.
On whether he would prefer that Assange be handed over and leave the Embassy of our country in London, the president said that “for all he reasons; First,because it represents a huge expense to Ecuador. Secondly, for Mr. Assange’s right, more than five years as an asylee is not desirable for a human being.And thirdly because according to the British government they would never extradite a person to a country where their lives are in danger. ” (I)
