DIGITAL LIFE

The far right shows its claws to Julian Assange

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London on Thursday after police were allowed entry into the Ecuadorian embassy where he had been taking refuge for nearly seven years.
Police confirmed the arrest of Assange, 47. Authorities said they were invited by the ambassador to enter the embassy after the removal of the political asylum granted by the South American country to the journalist.
The Ecuadorian presidency confirmed the removal of asylum, citing violations of international conventions. President Lenin Moreno has announced what he called a "sovereign decision" in a statement on Thursday.
The Wikileaks founder, who had been sheltering at the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012 to avoid extradition, was behind one of the biggest leaks of US secret history. He feared being sent by the British to the US, where he faces investigation.
"I urged the British government to ensure Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could be tortured or sentenced to death," Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno said in a statement.
The president complained about the journalist's behavior and accused him of "interfering in other states' issues" while at the embassy and said the asylum granted to the journalist had become "unsustainable and unfeasible." Assange would have repeatedly violated the "provisions of the conventions of a diplomatic asylum," according to Moreno, citing as example Vatican documents recently leaked by Wikileaks.
Assange sought refuge at the Ecuadorian embassy after the Swedish prosecutor's office opened an investigation charged him with sexual harassment. In 2010, the London High Court gave the green light for Assange's extradition to Sweden, triggering a legal battle.
In June 2012, Ecuador confirmed that Assange was at the Ecuadorian embassy in London and that he applied for political asylum. London police warned that Assange violated the conditions of house arrest to which he was subjected and could be detained.
The case dragged on until 2017, when Swedish prosecutors shelved the investigation against the journalist, ending the preliminary investigation into the rape charge. The Swedish prosecutor's office said Assange's stay at the embassy in Ecuador prevented the execution of the extradition request and it was no longer possible to carry out the transfer in "reasonable" time. In December of the same year Ecuador granted the Ecuadorian citizenship to Assange. Later, with the change of government in Ecuador, the new president, Lenin Moreno, said the case if Assange was a "rock in the shoe" for his country.
In February 2018, British justice denied an Assange defense appeal and maintained an arrest warrant issued after it violated the conditions of his probation upon entering the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The Ecuadorean government then began a series of measures hostile to Assange, such as restricting its access to the Internet at the London embassy because it violated an agreement in which it undertook not to comment on issues from other countries.
New rules were imposed on the "unwanted guest," such as cleaning the bathroom, taking care of his cat, and paying for the electricity and internet he used. In the same month, an Ecuadorian judge rejected Assange's complaint that the new rules were violating his rights.
In April 2019, Lenin Moreno accused Assange of repeatedly violating the terms of his asylum. In response, Wikileaks stated that Moreno's statements would be retaliation after the portal disclosed allegations of corruption against the president. On April 4, Wikileaks warned that Assange would be expelled from the embassy within a few days. Mundophone