Former
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said president Lenin Moreno "
has an agreement with the United States on what will happen to
Assange."
Ecuador's
former president Rafael Correa said in an interview with RT Saturday
that Julian Assange’s days in the Ecuadorean embassy in London are
numbered, a claim which contradicts the statements made by Lenin
Moreno Friday.
“You
can be certain that this man, who is an absolute hypocrite, already
has an agreement with the US about what will happen to Assange. And
now he's just trying to sweeten the pill by saying he's going to have
a dialogue… I fear, I fear, and I have said months ago, that
Assange’s days in the embassy are numbered,” Correa affirmed.
WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange has been living in the Ecuadorean embassy in
London since 2012. He was granted asylum by former president Correa
to help Assange avoid extradition to the United States, where he
could face the death penalty for espionage and treason.
On
Friday, Lenin Moreno, who is visiting Spain, told a journalist that
Assange would eventually have to leave the embassy, but argued his
exit had to be obtained “through dialogue.” Moreno also confirmed
Ecuador has been engaging in diplomatic talks with the United Kingdom
to determine Assange’s fate.
“Ecuadoreans
know how he (Moreno) operates. In the name of dialogue what he did
was disguise previous pacts and justified these pacts, the selling
out of the country to special interests, through dialogue… Here it
is the same, [Moreno] talks about a dialogue, but everything has
already been agreed with the UK government, especially after Vice
President Pence's visit to Ecuador a few weeks ago,” the former
president said.
Correa
also criticized Moreno for saying he had “inherited a problem,”
when referring to Assange’s asylum. “Now giving a humanitarian
asylum is a problem,” Correa said stressing Moreno has no
knowledge of the case against WikiLeaks founder.
It’s
not about guaranteeing Assange will not face the death penalty, but
about due process, Correa said in the interview.
In
January Assange was granted Ecuadorean citizenship. Moreno has stated
that he did not make that decision, stressing it was former foreign
affairs minister, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, who gave Assange
citizenship.
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