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President Moreno Reveals REAL Reason His Gov't Revoked Assange's Asylum

Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno has told the BBC why his government decided to revoke Julian Assange's asylum. The Wikileaks co-founder was arrested in London on 11 April after spending seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Sputnik

The South American country's president, Lenin Moreno, explained his decision to revoke the diplomatic asylum granted to the WikiLeaks founder by his predecessor, Rafael Correa, accusing him of "repeated violations of international conventions and daily-life protocols", such as smearing excrement on the embassy walls, BBC reports.

Earlier, Ecuador's Ambassador to the UK Jaime Marchan speaking with the Daily Mail also made several claims about Julian Assange's "daily protests" during his seven-year-stay in Ecuador's diplomatic premises in London.

The 72-year-old diplomat alleged that the whistleblower's relationship with personnel had deteriorated towards the end of his asylum to the extent that he allegedly left excrement smeared on the walls.

"When Assange wanted to be unpleasant, he put excrement on the walls and underwear with excrement in the lavatory. We had to remind him to flush the toilet and clean the dishes. He had to be reminded of normal standards of behaviour all the time," Marchan told the media outlet.

READ MORE: Criminalizing Journalism’: Assange Indictment References Espionage Act

Earlier, Lenin Moreno said no other nation had influenced the decision to revoke the WikiLeaks founder's asylum after what he called violations by Assange, adding: "Any attempt to destabilise is a reprehensible act for Ecuador, because we are a sovereign nation and respectful of the politics of each country."

'Claims Are Completely Ludicrous at This Point' - Journo on Assange's Case
However, Julian Assange's lawyer has accused Ecuador of "outrageous allegations", and spreading lies about the whistleblower’s  behaviour inside its embassy in London.

Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson claims the Ecuadorian Government lied to justify expelling Assange from its embassy.

Jennifer Robinson told Sky News that Ecuador was making "pretty outrageous allegations" to justify allowing British police into its embassy in order to take Assange into custody.

READ MORE: Snowden's Lawyer: Ecuador Breached Assange's Constitutional Rights Under Own Law

"I think the first thing to say is Ecuador has been making some pretty outrageous allegations over the past few days to justify what was an unlawful and extraordinary act in allowing British police to come inside an embassy," she said.

Assange was arrested at the embassy last week after Ecuador withdrew his political asylum status. A judge in London has found him guilty of skipping bail in 2012, when he faced extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges.

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The whistleblower feared that Sweden would hand him over to the United States, where he could be subject to the death penalty for leaking classified Afghan war logs. The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against him on much milder charges of conspiracy to hack a government computer.

Appearing at the Westminster Magistrates' Court on April 11, Assange pleaded not guilty to the charge of failing to surrender to a 2012 arrest warrant and skipping bail after a Swedish extradition order. Judge Michael Snow said Assange faces up to 12 months in jail when he is sentenced at a later date at Southwark Crown Court.

The judge added that the United States must present all the necessary documents regarding the extradition request for Assange by 12 June.

READ MORE: Leaked UK Gov't Letters Confirm Promise Assange Won't Face Death Row

Meanwhile, Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno set off on a five-day visit to Washington, where he will attend the Inter-American Dialogue. He had no official meetings scheduled with officials from the Trump administration.

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