Ecuador Will No Longer Intervene With UK for Assange
Ecuador does not plan to intervene with the British government on behalf of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in talks over his situation as an asylee in theSouth American country's London embassy, Ecuador's foreign
minister said Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Jose Valencia said in an interview withReuters that Ecuador's only responsibility was looking after Assange's well-being, after the Australian national sued thecountry over new conditions placed on his asylum in the Londonembassy.
"Ecuador has no responsibility to take any further steps,"Valencia said. "We are not Mr. Assange's lawyers, nor are werepresentatives of the British government. This is a matter tobe resolved between Assange and Great Britain."
This position marks a departure from the country's previouspractice ofmaintaining dialog with British authorities overAssange's situation since granting him asylum in 2012, when hetook refuge in Ecuador's London embassy after British courtsordered his extradition to Sweden to face questioning in asexual molestation case.
That case has since been dropped, but friends and supportershave said that Assange now fears he could be arrested andeventually extradited to the United States if he leaves theembassy. WikiLeaks, which published U.S. diplomatic and militarysecrets when Assange ran the operation, faces a U.S. grand juryinvestigation.
Valencia said he was "frustrated" by Assange's decision tofile suit in an Ecuadorian court last week over new terms of hisasylum, which required him to pay for medical bills andtelephone calls and to clean up after his pet cat.
"There is no obligation in international agreements forEcuador to pay for things like Mr. Assange's laundry," he said.
Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has said that asylum is not meant to be eternal, but he has expressed concern about thepossibility that Assange may be extradited to the United States.
Valencia said Tuesday that he hadnot discussed Assange'ssituation with the U.S. government.
Last December, Ecuador granted Assange Ecuadoriancitizenship and sought to name him as a member of the country'sdiplomatic mission in Britain and Russia, which could haveassured him safe passage to leave the embassy.Britain deniedthe request.
