Ecuador Grants WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Citizenship
Julian Assange
Officials in Ecuador have granted WikiLeaks founder  Julian Assange  citizenship after five years of living in the country’s London embassy.
Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said Ecuador had accepted  Assange ’s request made in December to become a citizen  arguing that citizenship would “provide the asylum seeker another layer of protection.”
“No solution will be achieved without international co-operation and the co-operation of the United Kingdom  which has also shown interest in seeking a way out ”  she  continued.
Ecuador granted Assange  whose organization WikiLeaks has published millions of classified government documents  political asylum in 2012 in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden over a rape claim.  Assange ’s activities exposing classified American documents may have led to further extradition to the United States  some speculated at the time.
Sweden has since dropped the rape claim  although  Assange  could still face arrest on charges of skipping bail that could also lead to extradition  meaning he is still unsafe to leave the embassy.
“The government of Ecuador recently requested diplomatic status for  Assange  here in the UK  said a spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office. “The UK did not grant that request  nor are we in talks with Ecuador on this matter. Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice.”
 Assange ’s relationship with Ecuadorian authorities has been tested in the past year as a result of  his  social media and internet activities. In October 2016  the embassy temporarily cut off  his  internet access as Wikileaks continued to publish private emails from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Last April  Ecuador’s then president-elect Lenín Moreno also warned  Assange  to not interfere with the country’s politics  after he taunted Moreno’s conservative opponent Guillermo Lasso over his defeat. Lasso had pledged to kick  Assange  out the embassy.
 Assange  has yet to comment on the development.
Officials in Ecuador have granted WikiLeaks founder  [TGT]citizenship after five years of living in the country’s London embassy.
Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said Ecuador had accepted  [TGT] ’s request made in December to become a citizen  arguing that citizenship would “provide the asylum seeker another layer of protection.”
“No solution will be achieved without international co-operation and the co-operation of the United Kingdom  which has also shown interest in seeking a way out ”  she  continued.
Ecuador granted Assange  whose organization WikiLeaks has published millions of classified government documents  political asylum in 2012 in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden over a rape claim.  Assange ’s activities exposing classified American documents may have led to further extradition to the United States  some speculated at the time.
Sweden has since dropped the rape claim  although  Assange  could still face arrest on charges of skipping bail that could also lead to extradition  meaning he is still unsafe to leave the embassy.
“The government of Ecuador recently requested diplomatic status for  Assange  here in the UK  said a spokesperson for Britain’s Foreign Office. “The UK did not grant that request  nor are we in talks with Ecuador on this matter. Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice.”
 Assange ’s relationship with Ecuadorian authorities has been tested in the past year as a result of  his  social media and internet activities. In October 2016  the embassy temporarily cut off  his  internet access as Wikileaks continued to publish private emails from Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Last April  Ecuador’s then president-elect Lenín Moreno also warned  Assange  to not interfere with the country’s politics  after he taunted Moreno’s conservative opponent Guillermo Lasso over his defeat. Lasso had pledged to kick  Assange  out the embassy.
 Assange  has yet to comment on the development.