Ecuador prepares to expel Assange from its embassy.
Ecuador has spoken with the British government about the situation surrounding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently residing in the Latin American country's embassy in London, said Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno; "This is even a violation of human rights when a person remains isolated for so long."
Sputnik Agency - Ecuador has spoken with the British government about the situation surrounding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is currently residing in the Latin American country's embassy in London, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said on Friday (27), Reuters reports.
During a speech in Madrid, Moreno stated that Assange will finally have to leave the embassy where he has lived since 2012, the agency reports.
"This is even a violation of human rights when a person remains isolated for too long," Moreno said during a briefing in Madrid.
Speculation about Assange's fate began after The Sunday Times reported on discussions between senior Ecuadorian and UK officials about removing Assange from the embassy after revoking his asylum. A source close to the WikiLeaks founder also told Reuters that the situation was nearing its end.
For several months, the press has speculated that Ecuador was preparing to revoke asylum for the world's most wanted whistleblower, after then-Ecuadorian Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa said that her government and the United Kingdom had "the intention and interest in resolving the situation."
In June, Ecuador's new Foreign Minister, José Valencia, suggested that Assange's refuge cannot last forever, adding that the country had tried to resolve the problem.
The founder of the whistleblower website has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012 to avoid possible extradition to Sweden, where he has been accused of rape and sexual assault.
Swedish prosecutors dropped the case last May, but the WikiLeaks founder remains in the embassy for fear of being arrested upon leaving and extradited to the United States, where he will face espionage charges for leaking thousands of classified documents about American military operations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.
According to The Guardian, Ecuador spent approximately $5 million on a clandestine intelligence operation to recruit secret agents to monitor Assange's visitors. The operation was reportedly approved by former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and former Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino.