"The government of Ecuador reaffirmed to continue with the protection we have given Assange under asylum for as long as necessary, until his life is no longer in danger," Ambassador Chavez Zavala said in an interview.
In June 2012, the WikiLeaks founder sought asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy after the UK's Supreme Court ruled to extradite him to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual molestation made in 2010. Assange argued that the extradition to Sweden was a plot to hand him over to the United States, where he would be charged for publishing classified information.
"The Ecuadorian government maintains that reasons for asylum based on national legislation and international law are still relevant," the country's envoy to Russia told Sputnik, adding that his country had repeatedly expressed its intention to achieve a rapid and final solution to the deadlock that has seen the WikiLeaks founder living in the embassy for nearly three years.
In September last year, lawyers for Julian Assange lodged an appeal against a ruling by a Swedish judge that Swedish prosecutors had sufficient cause to continue to pursue his arrest in order to question him about the crimes he is suspected of.
However, in November 2014 Stockholm's appeal court rejected the appeal to lift the arrest warrant, leaving him open to extradition to Sweden if he choose to leave Ecuador's embassy in London.
The deadlock in the WikiLeaks founder's case needs to be broken as soon as possible for humanitarian reasons, Ambassador of Ecuador to Russia, Patricio Alberto Chavez Zavala, told Sputnik.
"Ecuador, while following the rules of international law, will continue to search for a solution to the Assange case, which now is dictated by humanitarian reasons," Ambassador Chavez Zavala told Sputnik, adding that the WikiLeaks founder's health is slowly deteriorating.
In June 2012, the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London after the UK Supreme Court ruled to extradite him to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual molestation, made in 2010.
"After two years of being unable to go outside, living within the air-conditioned interior of the embassy, without natural light and fresh air, his health has slowly deteriorated," the Ecuadorian envoy to Russia told Sputnik, reiterating that his country repeatedly expressed its intention to find a rapid solution to the Assange's situation.
In August last year, Julian Assange claimed that he had developed a potentially life-threatening heart defect and a chronic lung condition while residing in the Ecuadorian embassy. According to his supporters, Assange has been unable to seek hospital treatment for fear of being arrested if he steps outside the embassy.
Assange, who has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for nearly three years, has denied all charges against him and has claimed that the extradition to Sweden is a plot to hand him over to the United States, where he would be charged for publishing classified information.
