Ecuador and Sweden have struck an agreement on how the two nations will co-operate on criminal matters that will likely advance the investigation into sexual assault charges levelled against Wikileaker-in-chief Julian Assange.
Ecuador's Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Movilidad Humana revealed the agreement last week. The Ministerio's statement on the agreement says, after a pass through an online translat-o-tron, that "The agreement in question is undoubtedly an instrument that strengthens bilateral relations and facilitate, for example, compliance with judicial proceedings, as the interrogation of Mr. Assange asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador in London."
Is the agreement good news, or bad, for Assange?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 15 2015, @02:30AM
I'm suspicious. It could be a trap. So, Assange talks to the legal beagles, charges are dropped, and they assure him he can go his way. He leaves the embassy, and the Brits take him into custody, either for contempt of court, or for some "unrelated" charge. And, overnight, he is extradited and put on a plane to the US.
And, the Brits won't make the same mistake twice. He won't get an opportunity to seek asylum before he's disappeared to the US.
(Score: 2) by timbim on Tuesday December 15 2015, @05:10AM
what if he leaves in the Ecuadorian presidential car?
(Score: 5, Informative) by Thexalon on Tuesday December 15 2015, @01:00PM
Seeing as how they grounded and at least tried to search Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane because they thought Edward Snowden was on it [wikipedia.org], I'm reasonably certain that being in a diplomatic vehicle offers Assange approximately zero protection.
Indeed, Assange claimed a role in that incident - he apparently intentionally leaked the information that Snowden was on the plane to the US, and the US responded by telling all their European allies to make sure that that plane had to stop in Austria. He knows full well that the US and their allies will violate their own laws and treaties to capture and quite possibly kill him.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 15 2015, @02:56PM
Yeah, except that Assange is only that important to the US and the rest of the world (besides Sweden) in his own head. The rest couldn't give two fucks about him.
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Tuesday December 15 2015, @09:13PM
The average citizens, perhaps, who have other things on their mind day-to-day. But, the UK felt obligated to spend £12.6m to try to catch him before pulling the plug on the stakeout. Contrast that with, the local cops spent maybe $100 trying to figure out who broke into my friend's car in my front driveway. This suggests he is, in fact, a person of significant impact one way or another.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"