On Tuesday, Ecuador’s foreign minister, Maria Fernanda Espinosa said that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s stay in the country’s London embassy was “unsustainable.” As a result, officials are “considering and exploring the possibility of a mediation” in the existing legal matters the international fugitive currently faces. For despite the fact that Sweden dropped its rape investigation against Assange back in May, he is still wanted by the United Kingdom and the United States. “A person cannot live in those conditions forever,” Espinosa explained, adding that a “third country or personality” would be preferable for mediation.
Regarding Assange’s possible extradition to the U.S., the Justice Department under President Trump made clear just how much of a “priority” it was that the WikiLeaks founder be charged. As for the U.K., authorities there say Assange “will still be arrested if he leaves the embassy building, on the charge of failing to surrender to the court back in 2012.” Hence Espinosa’s comments on Tuesday. “No solution will be achieved without international cooperation and the cooperation of the United Kingdom,” she said, “which has also shown interest in seeking a way out.”
In response to the Ecuadorian official’s comments, a U.K. government spokesperson said, “The Government of Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice.” Looks like it’s high time for Pamela Anderson to put her start-a-vegan-restaurant-to-save-Julian plan into action, and fast.
(Via BBC News)