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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in August 2012 as police officers stand guard.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in August 2012 as police officers stand guard. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange speaks from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in August 2012 as police officers stand guard. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Ecuador says it should be compensated for housing Julian Assange in embassy

This article is more than 8 years old

With UN panel set to rule WikiLeaks founder is being ‘arbitrarily detained’, Ecuadorian president says country was right to offer him asylum

Ecuador has suggested it deserves compensation for housing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in its London embassy, with a UN panel expected to declare that his years stuck there amount to illegal detention in Britain.

“That shows we were right, after so many years,” Ecuador’s president Rafael Correa told a news conference in Quito on Thursday.

“But who is going to compensate the harm that has been done to Julian Assange and to Ecuador? Do you know how much it costs to maintain security at the embassy?” he asked.

“We experienced spying attempts and lots of other things.”

Assange, 44, took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape charge, which he denies.

The UN working group on arbitrary detention (UNWGAD) is expected to declare on Friday that his three-and-a-half years in the embassy office amount to illegal detention, the Swedish foreign ministry and Assange’s lawyers said.

Swedish prosecutors said the ruling had no impact on their investigation into the 2010 rape allegation.

The British government said it would have to arrest Assange if he leaves the embassy as long as a European arrest warrant is in force.

Ecuador’s foreign minister Ricardo Patino said Assange was welcome to remain in the embassy.

“The basis on which we granted him asylum remains in place,” Patino told reporters.

Assange says he fears he would face extradition from Sweden to the United States and trial over the leaking of classified US documents on his whistleblower website WikiLeaks.

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