Julian Assange Says He's Suing Ecuador for 'Violating His Fundamental Rights'
Julian Assange announced on Friday that he was suing the Ecuadorean government for "violating his fundamental rights," claiming that his longtime hosts at the country's embassy in London are limiting his contact with the outside world and censoring his speech.
His legal team in the matter, led by the former Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón, revealed the suit at a news conference in Quito, where the lawsuit was filed. The action aims to prevent strict new rules governing Mr. Assange's visitors and online activity from taking effect.
The policies were laid out in a nine-page memo that was published by a news site this month. (They include directives to clean his bathroom and look after his cat.)
Clean up your room and brush your teeth before you go to bed.
Also at Reuters, CNN, and USA Today.
Previously: Julian Assange has His Internet Access Cut Off by Ecuador
Ecuador Spent $5 Million Protecting and Spying on Julian Assange
Ecuador Reportedly Almost Ready to Hand Julian Assange Over to UK Authorities
Associated Press Publishes Supposedly Leaked WikiLeaks Documents
The Guardian: Russian Diplomats Planned to Sneak Julian Assange Out of the UK
Related Stories
Ecuador cuts off Julian Assange's internet access at London embassy
The government of Ecuador has confirmed that it has cut off internet access in its embassy in London to Julian Assange, the founder of the whistleblowing site WikiLeaks, saying that he was putting the country's international relations at risk.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Ecuador said that the step had been taken because Assange had failed to abide by an agreement not to interfere in the South American country's relations with other states.
"The government of Ecuador warns that Assange's behaviour, through his messages on social networks, put at risk the country's good relations with the United Kingdom, the other states of the European Union, and other nations," the statement said.
[...] Ecuador temporarily cut Assange's internet connection in 2016, over fears that he was using it to interfere in the US presidential election, but it was later restored.
Also at the Miami Herald and teleSUR.
The Ecuadorean government spent around $5 million to protect and spy on Julian Assange and his visitors, according to The Guardian. The operation evolved over time as the embassy's guest became less welcome:
Over more than five years, Ecuador put at least $5m (£3.7m) into a secret intelligence budget that protected the WikiLeaks founder while he had visits from Nigel Farage, members of European nationalist groups and individuals linked to the Kremlin. [...] Documents show the intelligence programme, called "Operation Guest", which later became known as "Operation Hotel" – coupled with parallel covert actions – ran up an average cost of at least $66,000 a month for security, intelligence gathering and counter-intelligence to "protect" one of the world's most high-profile fugitives. [...] The security personnel recorded in minute detail Assange's daily activities, and his interactions with embassy staff, his legal team and other visitors. They also documented his changing moods.
[...] Worried that British authorities could use force to enter the embassy and seize Assange, Ecuadorian officials came up with plans to help him escape. They included smuggling Assange out in a diplomatic vehicle or appointing him as Ecuador's United Nations representative so he could have diplomatic immunity in order to attend UN meetings, according to documents seen by the Guardian dated August 2012. In addition to giving Assange asylum, Correa's government was apparently prepared to spend money on improving his image. A lawyer was asked to devise a "media strategy" to mark the "second anniversary of his diplomatic asylum", in a leaked 2014 email exchange seen by the Guardian.
The money being spent was unknown to some members of the government, including the Ecuadorian ambassador to the UK, who learned of the operation in 2015. Ecuador's financial controller's office also investigated payments related to the operation.
Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno traveled to London on Friday for the ostensible purpose of speaking at the 2018 Global Disabilities Summit (Moreno has been using a wheelchair since being shot in a 1998 robbery attempt). The concealed, actual purpose of the President's trip is to meet with British officials to finalize an agreement under which Ecuador will withdraw its asylum protection of Julian Assange, in place since 2012, eject him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then hand over the WikiLeaks founder to British authorities.
WikiLeaks founder sought Russian visa in 2010, per AP report
The Associated Press has published a cache of 10 documents that it says are part of a leaked "larger trove of WikiLeaks emails, chat logs, financial records, secretly recorded footage, and other documents." AP reporter Raphael Satter declined to elaborate as to how much more material the AP had or why that material was not being released now.
Among those documents is a purported November 30, 2010 effort by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to seek a Russian visa via its London consulate. That's just a week before Assange surrendered to British authorities who sought him for questioning on behalf of Swedish prosecutors who wanted him on allegations of sexual misconduct. By June 2012, Assange had entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has remained since. Assange has denied any wrongdoing in the Swedish case.
[...] This cache adds intrigue to WikiLeaks' and Assange's ongoing saga. Numerous media outlets reported early last month that Assange's days in the embassy are numbered and that the Ecuadorian authorities could boot him soon. "The files provide both an intimate look at the radical transparency organization and an early hint of Assange's budding relationship with Moscow," Satter wrote.
[...] For its part, WikiLeaks responded shortly after the Associated Press story went live on Monday morning by suggesting that, at a minimum, the visa application document was false, tweeting at numerous media outlets:
Mr. Assange did not apply for such a visa at any time or author the document. The source is document fabricator & paid FBI informant Sigurdur Thordarson who was sentenced to prison for fabricating docs impersonating Assange, multiple frauds & pedophilllia. https://t.co/xzMfhctFx4
Related: Ecuador Reportedly Almost Ready to Hand Julian Assange Over to UK Authorities
Revealed: Russia's secret plan to help Julian Assange escape from UK
Russian diplomats held secret talks in London last year with people close to Julian Assange to assess whether they could help him flee the UK, the Guardian has learned.
A tentative plan was devised that would have seen the WikiLeaks founder smuggled out of Ecuador's London embassy in a diplomatic vehicle and transported to another country.
One ultimate destination, multiple sources have said, was Russia, where Assange would not be at risk of extradition to the US. The plan was abandoned after it was deemed too risky.
The operation to extract Assange was provisionally scheduled for Christmas Eve in 2017, one source claimed, and was linked to an unsuccessful attempt by Ecuador to give Assange formal diplomatic status.
Related: Ecuador Grants Citizenship to Julian Assange
Ecuador Reportedly Almost Ready to Hand Julian Assange Over to UK Authorities
Associated Press Publishes Supposedly Leaked WikiLeaks Documents
The United Kingdom told Ecuador in August that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would not be extradited if he left the country's London embassy, where he has lived under asylum since 2012, Ecuador's top government attorney said on Thursday.
[...] Salvador said Ecuador passed on the UK's response to Assange's lawyers, but noted that if Assange stayed in the embassy Ecuador would put new conditions on his stay. "Mr. Assange had a choice between turning himself in to British authorities with those assurances, or staying in the embassy of Ecuador, but given that the asylum had lasted six years with no signs of immediate resolution we were going to place certain rules." Salvador said at a news conference.
[...] The relationship between Assange and Ecuador has grown increasingly tense in the past year. Assange filed a lawsuit in an Ecuadorean court last week claiming the new asylum terms, which require him to pay for medical bills and telephone calls and to clean up after his pet cat, violate his rights.
Previously:
Julian Assange Sues Ecuador for "Violating His Fundamental Rights".
Inadvertent Court Filing Suggests that the U.S. DoJ is Preparing to Indict Julian Assange
Prosecutors Have Prepared Indictment of Julian Assange, a Filing Reveals
The Justice Department has prepared an indictment against the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, marking a drastic escalation of the government's yearslong battle with him and his anti-secrecy group. It was not clear if prosecutors have filed charges against Mr. Assange. The indictment came to light late Thursday through an unrelated court filing in which prosecutors inadvertently mentioned charges against him. "The court filing was made in error," said Joshua Stueve, a spokesman for the United States attorney's office for the Eastern District of Virginia. "That was not the intended name for this filing."
[...] Seamus Hughes, a terrorism expert at George Washington University who closely tracks court cases, uncovered the filing and posted it on Twitter.
A Justice Department spokesman declined to say on Thursday what led to the inadvertent disclosure. It was made in a recently unsealed filing in an apparently unrelated sex-crimes case charging a man named Seitu Sulayman Kokayi with coercing and enticing an underage person to engage in unlawful sexual activity. Mr. Kokayi was charged in early August, and on Aug. 22, prosecutors filed a three-page document laying out boilerplate arguments for why his case at that time needed to remain sealed.
While the filing started out referencing Mr. Kokayi, federal prosecutors abruptly switched on its second page to discussing the fact that someone named "Assange" had been secretly indicted, and went on to make clear that this person was the subject of significant publicity, lived abroad and would need to be extradited — suggesting that prosecutors had inadvertently pasted text from a similar court filing into the wrong document and then filed it.
"Another procedure short of sealing will not adequately protect the needs of law enforcement at this time because, due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged," prosecutors wrote. They added, "The complaint, supporting affidavit, and arrest warrant, as well as this motion and the proposed order, would need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested in connection with the charges in the criminal complaint and can therefore no longer evade or avoid arrest and extradition in this matter."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Virindi on Sunday October 21 2018, @04:49PM (5 children)
Seems a bit ungrateful. He's free to leave right? He's not a prisoner? They gave him asylum, and this seems like throwing it in their faces. Who would want to help such a person in the future? I hope he never needs anyone else's charity.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @07:25PM (1 child)
If I was seeking asylum, I think it would also be nice not to have rights violated. Not trying to parse this specific case, just mentioning do onto others stuff.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @07:58PM
The obesity epidemic is something that the United States is all too familiar with. This was, of course, because it had one of the highest obesity rates in the world.
The obese have a lower quality of life, higher medical expenses, and shortened lifespans. It's no wonder that so many are concerned about this problem. However, what can be done to tackle this issue? Until now, no proposed solutions have been effective. Until now.
A large group of people were lined up in the room. They appeared to be wearing clothing designed to accommodate exercise, and the room appeared to be designed for that purpose as well. These people all had their eyes on one person: Their exercise instructor. This instructor's job was, of course, to teach them exercises to help combat their obesity. However, just promoting exercise would not be enough by itself to significantly reduce obesity. The operators of the program understood this, and that was why this routine was far from ordinary. No, it was extraordinary.
95%. If an overweight or obese person went through this program, there was a 95% chance that they would return to a normal, healthy weight range and maintain that weight. The groundbreaking success of this program surprised even those who had researched and developed it; it was to the point where governments and corporations were throwing massive amounts of money at it. The end to the obesity epidemic was finally in sight.
Just then, the instructor finished showing the men the exercises, and then instructed them to choose one and start doing it. After that, each man grabbed some exercise equipment and started doing one of the many different exercise routines that were shown to them. It was brutal.
The children were thrown around like ragdolls as they were violated by the men. Their heads slammed into hard floors and walls as the men pumped into their genitals and anuses. Their bodies were used as punching bags. Their bones cracked and broke. Their muscles stretched and tore. Echoes of children screaming and crying seemed to continue without end.
Yes, this was the true nature of the exercise program. Ordinary exercise would not be effective, since it's tiring and monotonous. However, if you make the exercise routine entertaining and addictive, it makes it easy to follow through. The researchers who developed this astounding program understood this all too well. Thus, the men brutally violated the children in a number of physically-demanding positions, to simultaneously lose weight and to satisfy their unending lust.
The children broke one after another, their screams for mercy completely ignored by the lustful men. No, their screams weren't ignored; in fact, the men reveled in them. Yes, the men reveled in the children's cries and screams, and enjoyed them to the very end. After several hours, the building was silent and no children remained. It was time to leave.
Dozens of sweaty men exited the large building and began traveling home, yawning and stretching as they did so. They were exhausted, but their exhaustion only gave them hope for a future where they could be proud of their bodies.
Hope. It was something that was never granted to the hundreds of children being casually tossed into dumpsters by the building's employees. However, it was never granted to them because they simply never deserved it to begin with.
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Monday October 22 2018, @03:24AM (1 child)
Yes, it does seems a bit ungrateful on the surface, but at the same time, he really is a prisoner. He'll get arrested the moment he steps foot outside the embassy for the "skipped bail" thingy - and immediately be extradited to the US where he'll get a military trail at the utter best - but much more likely he'll get trudged from black site to black site for a while before finally being made an example of.
Saying he's free to walk out anytime is like saying that a dying-from-dehydration man in a lift-raft can drink all the seawater he wants to.
Obviously no-one thought that this could possibly go on this long - and lets face it, he must be depressed as hell, stuck in that cramped space. While Ecuador are stuck in a hard place, on one hand they want to do the right thing (or be seen to) and on the other hand, having him there is making other relations more difficult for them and they can't move or help get him out. All the time, symptoms of that depression must be showing more and more:
Taken from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder#Signs_and_symptoms [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Virindi on Wednesday October 24 2018, @11:53AM
Sure, but it's not Ecuador which is keeping him prisoner. They seem to have done nothing but help. Which is my point, if he was suing the UK that would be different.
My point being that given what Ecuador has done for him, he could at least be a good guest. They invited him into their home and asked him not to make a mess and not to make them look bad, and he responded by suing them.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 22 2018, @02:06PM
He is not ungrateful. He is merely asserting his rights to things to which he is entitled.
How dare that ungrateful Ecuador not give him everything he wishes!
After all Julian is gracing them with the fame and notoriety of his presence in their embassy. Why shouldn't they at least show some gratitude?
The Saudis were alleged to have the capability to smuggle someone from their embassy in multiple briefcases without that person being arrested.
If a lazy person with no education can cross the border and take your job, we need to upgrade your job skills.
(Score: 4, Informative) by canopic jug on Sunday October 21 2018, @04:55PM (20 children)
Well, he is being unlawfully detained [un.org] by Sweden and the UK. Now Ecuador is in on the act at behest of the US. Notice that the smear campagin against him ramped up once Ecuador cut him off from all outside communication?
It's interesting, in a disappointing kind of way, that the social media have been so sucessful in misrepresenting the whole case [foreignpolicyjournal.com] even to the point of frequently spreading outright lies far and wide. I'm normally quite happy with SN but this topic is where the editors seem to drop the ball. They're not alone though, the mainstream media has been piling on against their fellow journalist for a long time.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @06:49PM (2 children)
What a bunch of garbage. Assangel is free to leave the embassy whenever he wants. The fact that he skipped bail in the UK is his doing, and if he doesn't want to be held accountable for that he needs to find a way to get out of the UK without stepping foot on their soil. Maybe the Ecuadorians can get him over to the Saudi embassy. They seem to be able to help people vanish.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @08:16PM (1 child)
I don't think it is fear of punishment from the UK that is preventing him from leaving the embassy. It is extradition to the U.S., which the U.K. will roll over and allow to happen, that frightens him. Why don't you speak to that?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @09:13PM
I don't think that is unreasonable, but Assange's fear of being grabbed by the UK is what could possibly get him sent to the US. If he hadn't skipped bail the UK would not be sitting outside the embassy eating donuts and drinking coffee.
Also, keep in mind that the current occupant of the White House does not want Assange questioned by US law enforcement. If Assange spills the beans on Stone and the Trump campaign - and Assange will sing like a bird because he has no loyalty to anyone other than to himself - it won't look good.
Assangel's best chance is to avoid the US is to start acting like a grateful guest of the Ecuadorian embassy. But his sense of entitlement prevents him from doing that.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Sunday October 21 2018, @07:02PM (1 child)
All things considered, I think we (SN) have been pretty fair to Assange. Want to be more specific?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 5, Informative) by canopic jug on Monday October 22 2018, @04:13AM
I offer the links in the summary under "Previously" as well as the commentary in the summary itself as evidence. The articles against him are light on facts and heavy on casting aspersions. The link about Ecuador spending $5 million on him stands out. It is all about perspective. The UK has been spending around £10.4k per day on his siege, which could be ended by their word not to extradite him to the US. Since the siege has been going since 2012, the sum is probably going well over £40M (about €46M or $52M USD) by now [smh.com.au]. It is also notable that the Australian government refuses to defend him, a citizen [sydneycriminallawyers.com.au]. Even the reasons for the Swedish prosecution have not been covered well. The women involved state that the case was trumped up by the police. The original investigator dropped the case, and a new investigator only picked up the case and strangely issued an Interpol red alert after Assange had requested permission to leave the country, got it, and left. Then, in violation of their standard practice, the Swedish prosecution consistently refused to interview him either on-site or via phone, dodging questions about it for years.
If there were reasons to criticize him, then that would be a different matter but there aren't. However, that has not stopped politicians and fellow journalists from making insinuations. Anyway, all those insinuations are working well as distractions from the material that Wikileaks has been publishing over the years. The attacks on the messenger and the resulting noise have successfully drowned out the anti-war / anti-corruption message.
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 1, Troll) by looorg on Sunday October 21 2018, @08:10PM (8 children)
Sweden dropped its case over a year ago. He is now claiming asylum from the UK and their charge of skipping bail, or something along those lines or whatever paranoid fantasy he is trying to escape from. Do try and keep up with how the events unfold. He is free to leave the embassy any day he wants.
(Score: 2) by exaeta on Sunday October 21 2018, @09:22PM (7 children)
I don't think he was ever afraid of the actual charges against him per se. Any charge which he could be arrested under is reason to fear leaving.
The fact he hasn't be allowed to return without charges yet is illustrative of how the system is working against him, justified or not.
Though in fairness, this man is paranoid and delusional. A half decent lawyer would easily be able to defend him from whatever U.S. prosecution would bring.
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @12:14AM
I disagree - we don't know what the US government has on Asange. It could be much more than we know about (not everything leaks, and false accusations may not exist ... yet) Also, with the speed (or lack thereof) of the federal courts Asange could be held in prison for a year or two. They wouldn't let him out on bail based on what he pulled in the UK. And who knows what the US's relationship with Ecuador will be if/when Asange ends up in the US (because the current administration's heart and soul is all about "winning" or being petty).
(Score: 2) by Pav on Monday October 22 2018, @01:33AM
Isn't a big part of the Russia narrative that Wikileaks was collaborating?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by shortscreen on Monday October 22 2018, @09:28AM (4 children)
Lawyers eh? Just like they defended all those gitmo prisoners from all those charges that US prosecutors (didn't even bother to) bring?
(Score: 2) by exaeta on Monday October 22 2018, @06:38PM (3 children)
It's a bit harder to extradite a public figure and detain them without trial than a random Muslim.
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 23 2018, @12:54PM (2 children)
He should join islam! Isn't that what desperate people do in desperate circumcisions?
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday October 23 2018, @09:04PM (1 child)
A lot of people do seem to find Jebuz or Mohammed or whomever during their "wrongful incarceration". Now I'm actually starting to wonder what would happen to the whole circus of JA just converted and came out as super religious. Would he then be doubly persecuted? On the other hand muslim that are enemies of Uncle Same have booked rooms at the Gitmo Hilton ...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 27 2018, @12:45AM
> A lot of people do seem to find Jebuz or Mohammed or whomever during their "wrongful incarceration".
That is because islam is the largest gang in the prison [usma.edu] and have taken over most Western prisons [washingtonpost.com] some to the point where even the guards pay protection money to the moslem inmates. They join the gang [independent.co.uk] for the reason if they are already in for crime why not add one more crime to the list [npr.org]. and many convert under pressure [telegraph.co.uk] because they value their ass more than their soul. Or their stomachs. In some prisons they are rewarded with better food for conversion.
Prisons are not exactly bastions of free speech [dw.com] either.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Murdoc on Sunday October 21 2018, @08:17PM (4 children)
I was interested in what you said about "misrepresenting the whole case" and wanted to know more, so I checked out that link. First of all, the title of that article was disappointing: "The Persecution of Julian Assange Proves That Western Values No Longer Exist" Really? They don't exist anywhere? In any amount? That's just immature hyperbole. But still I read on. It was shaky writing that didn't instil me with a lot of confidence in what they were trying to say. Finally they lost me at the part about the 'mainstream media dedicated to demonizing Russia and Trump' and I'm left wondering what the heck kind of site is this? I got my answer to that pretty quick when I spotted an article in the sidebar that was anti-vax. So I think I'm going to request a better source of information about this Assange thing.
(Score: 2) by Pav on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:48PM (1 child)
If you're interested in the veracity of the original allegation here's a background and summary [youtube.com] done close to the time by an Australian investigative reporter from Four Corners (a pretty good investigative news show), though it's published in the rest of the world by Journeyman Pictures I believe.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Pav on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:54PM
I don't know if this is viewable outside of Australia, but this [abc.net.au] is the original story in full.
(Score: 3, Informative) by canopic jug on Monday October 22 2018, @04:33AM (1 child)
Ok. My fault. Thanks for calling out the garbage site for what it is. I was not careful with the link above, the foreignpolicyjournal page is actually a reprint of The Persecution of Julian Assange Proves That Western Values No Longer Exist [paulcraigroberts.org] by Paul Craig Roberts and can be found on his blog. However, here is a more diverse and higher quality sampling (though The Guardian is dodgy too):
Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
(Score: 2) by Murdoc on Thursday October 25 2018, @09:29AM
Sorry for the late reply. Thanks for the new links, they helped a lot. :)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @11:40PM
no doubt it's a smear campaign but some of it must be true. I mean the guy should be also breaking down over the years of pressure and isolation, that thing takes a toll on his mind
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @05:36PM
Nuff said
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Revek on Sunday October 21 2018, @06:27PM (1 child)
Now he is a zero. From what I've read he is a man of poor personal hygiene and even less tact. They should boot him out on his ass.
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 2) by Revek on Monday October 22 2018, @12:52PM
disagree about what part? That he is a zero? That there have been multiple reports the guy doesn't wash often and won't clean up after himself? That he is rude to the staff and makes a nuisance of himself. Cause if its the zero thing thats just my opinion but the rest has been reported multiple times.
This page was generated by a Swarm of Roaming Elephants
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @06:41PM (1 child)
I guess they can stop "limiting his contact with the outside world" by tossing his ass out the front of the embassy. I'm sure the waiting hands of the UK police will break his fall.
Sheesh, be careful what you ask for; sometimes you get it.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 22 2018, @04:56PM
If he doesn't like it there, he's free to try the Saudi Embassy.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:04PM
Oh that's right, you can't read this because your hosts took away your Internet when your cat pissed on the oriental rug. It was the cat, right?
(Score: 4, Informative) by Pav on Sunday October 21 2018, @10:10PM
This [youtube.com] is recommended viewing for anyone interested in the rape allegations that started this off. It's a five minute background and detailed timeline pulled from a larger piece made at the time (2010-ish), but if you want nauseating detail you might want to watch the entire "Sex, Lies and Julian Assange" doco. It ties all the smoke and mirrors to some facts and faces.