Ecuadorian authorities have granted Julian Assange the status of a naturalized citizen. The news was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Our British correspondent, Alexander Khabarov, tried to figure out when the founder of WikiLeaks could leave the embassy of Ecuador, where he's been hiding for five years.
Everybody expected Julian Assange to make a statement from his balcony, but for now, all news has been coming from the Ecuadorian capital of Quito, where this morning, the Minister of Foreign Affairs held a press conference. She officially confirmed that Julian Assange became a citizen of Ecuador. It doesn't grant him any rights. According to the British press, the Ecuadorian authorities addressed the British Foreign Office, requesting a diplomatic passport for Assange. It seems that they were planning to exploit diplomatic immunity to extract Assange from the embassy and transport him to Ecuador. But according to the official statement, the British Foreign Office refused to discuss the initiative.
In 2012, when Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy, he formally violated the Bail Act, which sets bail conditions imposed by British courts. The court made a decision to extradite Assange to Sweden, where he was accused of crimes of a sexual nature.
Now we have a peculiar paradox. The thing is, the accusations against Assange have already been dropped. The reason to extradite him to Sweden that made him seek refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy is gone. Still, he will be arrested upon exiting the embassy because he violated the Bail Act. A new trial will decide on a punishment for Julian Assange for violating his bail conditions.
Assange is afraid that if he gets arrested by London police, the US might demand his extradition to the States.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador appealed to the global community for help in an attempt to find a third party to participate in the negotiations with the UK to finally resolve the deadlock.
Alexander Khabarov for Vesti in London.
