Ecuador’s president has said Wikileaks founder Julian Assange must leave its London embassy eventually as he confirmed his country is in talks with Britain about the situation.
President Lenin Moreno said he has spoken to the British government about Assange, who has been living in the embassy in Knightsbridge since June 2012 and is fearful he will be extradited to the United States if he leaves.
He said he had ‘never been in favour’ of the activities of the 47-year-old as he spoke at an event in Madrid, adding that Australian-born Assange will eventually need to leave the embassy.
Speculation about Assange’s future has grown after reports that senior officials from Ecuador and Britain were now in discussion about how to remove him from the embassy after revocation of his asylum. A source close to him told Reuters the situation was coming to a head.
Ecuador’s president has said Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (file picture) must leave its London embassy eventually as he confirmed his country is in talks with Britain about the situation
Moreno was in London this week to attend a global disabilities summit. But a British government spokesman said today the matter was not discussed during the recent visit.
Moreno said any eviction of Assange from the embassy had to be carried out correctly and through dialogue, but he displayed no sympathy for Assange’s political agenda as a leaker of confidential documents.
‘I have never been in favour of Mr Assange’s activity,’ Moreno said at an event in Madrid.
Australian-born Assange sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about allegations of sex crimes which he has always denied.
Those allegations have since been dropped but Assange would be arrested by British police, should he leave the embassy, for breaching bail conditions.
Assange believes that would pave the way for extradition to the United States for the publication of a huge cache of U.S. diplomatic and military secrets on the WikiLeaks website.
Moreno made his comments in Madrid where he had met King Felipe and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez after a three-day visit to Britain.
When asked if he had spoken to the British government about Assange on his recent visit, Moreno said the two countries were in permanent contact about the matter.
‘The only person I have never spoken to is Mr Assange,’ he added.
President Lenin Moreno said he has spoken to the British government about Assange, who has been living in the embassy in Knightsbridge since June 2012 and is fearful he will be extradited to the United States if he leaves
The diplomatic impasse over Assange’s stay in Ecuador’s embassy is coming to a head, a source close to the Wikileaks founder said on Monday.
Ecuadorean and British government sources have played down suggestions of any imminent movement to break the stalemate.
It comes days after it was reported that a deal between Ecuador and the UK to hand over Assange is ‘imminent’.
Senior foreign officials, believed to include the Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan, were said to have held talks to try and decide Mr Assange’s future, according to The Sunday Times.
President Lenin Moreno has previously called Mr Assange a ‘hacker’ and a ‘stone in the shoe’.
The diplomatic impasse over Assange’s stay in Ecuador’s embassy is coming to a head, a source close to the Wikileaks founder said on Monday
Yet sources close to Mr Assange believe his political asylum cannot be revoked and that he was not aware of the high-level talks.
In a recent visit to Ecuador in late-June US Vice President Mike Pence raised the issue’ of the Australian anti-secrecy activist.
Assange was given political asylum under Moreno’s predecessor Rafael Correa, but it has been far from smooth sailing with the new administration.
Mr Assange’s internet was cut off in March this year and restrictions were placed on who could visit him.
President Moreno also ordered the removal of extra security at the embassy which has cost the country at least £3.7 million.
The operation – initially called ‘Operation Guest’ and later ‘Operation Hotel’ – ran up an average cost of at least £48,885 a month.
While in the embassy Mr Assange’s physical and mental health is believed to have deteriorated.
Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan previously branded Mr Assange a ‘miserable little worm’ during a Commons debate in March, adding he should leave the Ecuadorean embassy and surrender to British justice.