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Ecuador Blames Britain Over Julian Assange Impasse

posted by janrinok on Sunday February 25 2018, @07:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the pound-of-flesh dept.

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Ecuador's foreign minister has blamed Britain over the stalemate surrounding WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange following rekindled attempts to secure his safe exit from Quito's embassy in London.

"On the issue of mediation, I have to say very honestly that it has not been successful because two parties are needed to mediate, [sic]" Maria Fernanda Espinosa, the Ecuadorian foreign minister, told reporters Friday with respect to the Assange case, Agence France-Presse translated.

"Ecuador is willing but the other party is not," she added, referring to Britain, according to Reuters.

On the other hand, from the same source, and as we have already reported:

British authorities argue that Mr. Assange, an Australian, was under house arrest when he entered the embassy and should be apprehended for having breached his bail conditions if and when he exits.

Source: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/feb/23/ecuador-blames-britain-over-julian-assange-impasse/

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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Mykl on Sunday February 25 2018, @11:50PM (4 children)

    by Mykl (1112) on Sunday February 25 2018, @11:50PM (#643643)

    The problem here isn't the UK; it's Julian Assange's unwillingness to accept responsibility for his decision to breach the conditions of his bail.

    No, the problem here is that the UK has consistently refused to rule out extraditing Assange to the US where he will rot in a jail cell for the rest of his life for the crime of embarrassing their government.

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  • (Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Monday February 26 2018, @11:37AM

    by cubancigar11 (330) on Monday February 26 2018, @11:37AM (#643885) Homepage Journal

    Is there any legal precedence of UK promising not to extradite someone? UK in general is very resilient in extradition, legally speaking, due to historical reasons (they wouldn't allow a UK citizen to be tried anywhere except UK, not even in British colonies).

  • (Score: 3, Informative) by TheRaven on Monday February 26 2018, @12:27PM (1 child)

    by TheRaven (270) on Monday February 26 2018, @12:27PM (#643894) Journal
    Correct. The UK has not received an extradition request from the USA and so can't rule out complying with a legal extradition request if one is delivered in the future. He has the same guarantees that everyone has in the UK with regards to extradition to the USA, including that the US prove that they have evidence of a crime, that the crime is recognised as a crime in the UK, that he will receive a fair trial, and that he will not receive the death penalty even if found guilty of all charges. I very much doubt that the US could convincingly argue in court that he'd receive a fair trial, so I'd expect a half decent barrister to get the extradition request cancelled (and, therefore, that the US wouldn't file such a request because they'd rather avoid the embarrassment), but until such a request is delivered no one can guarantee what will happen if it is.
    --
    sudo mod me up

    • (Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday February 26 2018, @11:05PM

      by Mykl (1112) on Monday February 26 2018, @11:05PM (#644287)

      When directly asked whether the UK have already received an extradition request, the government have consistently refused to confirm or deny. Given they won't tell us whether a request has already been received, my guess is "Yes".

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @02:37PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 26 2018, @02:37PM (#643943)

    Assange wants to be treated like a princess when he comes out so he can lord it over "the system" that he defeated.

    I think he needs a few more years in the embassy, at least long enough to see out Trump's term. A suitable exit would be him smiling like a madman, dressed in a straight-jacket covered in excrement and vomit.