Ecuador president says Wikileak’s Julian Assange MUST leave embassy but wants assurances he won’t be executed
Australian-born Assange will eventually need to leave the London embassy where he has been living since 2012, Ecuador President Lenin Moreno says
JULIAN Assange's legal team says Ecuador is seeking assurances he won't be EXECUTED if he is forced to leave its embassy in London.
Speculation about Assange's future has grown in recent days, amid reports that officials from Ecuador and Britain are discussing how to remove him after revocation of his asylum.
Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno today told reporters in Madrid the "only thing" he wants is a guarantee Assange will avoid a death penalty.
He added that the "only person" he hasn't spoken to regarding the Wikileaks founder's plight "is Mr Assange" himself.
It comes as a source close to Assange today told Reuters his embassy standoff situation was coming to a head.
Assange sought refuge in the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden to face questioning about allegations of sex crimes which he has always denied.
Those allegations have since been dropped but Assange would be arrested by British police, should he leave the embassy, for breaching bail conditions.
Assange believes that would pave the way for extradition to the United States for the publication of a huge cache of US diplomatic and military secrets on the WikiLeaks website.
The Sun reported this week that Ecuadorian officials want him out, and his communication with the outside world was cut off three months ago when he was accused of interfering with other states.
A Whitehall source told The Sun to "expect movement" in the coming weeks but the Foreign Office insisted that there was not an "imminent" breakthrough expected.
Assange visited Sweden in August 2010 to speak at a conference when he met two women and had sex with them.
They accused him of rape and molestation and Assange was questioned but never charged over the claims.
He was initially told he could leave the country, but in November of that year, Interpol issued a Red Notice for his arrest. Assange has always denied the claims.
He gave himself up a week later and appeared before a judge in Westminster, where his supporters stumped up £240,000 for his bail.
In June 2012 Swedish prosecutors called for him to be extradited - a measure his lawyers opposed in case he was sent to the US.
On June 19, 2012, he fled bail and applied for asylum in Ecuador, through the embassy in Knightsbridge, London.
The Ecuadorian authorities stated that he could remain in the embassy as long as he wished, and Assange was granted political asylum in August of that year.
Baywatch star Pamela Anderson– whose close friendship with Wikileaks founder Assange has set tongues wagging – has paid Assange frequent visits at the embassy.
The 49-year-old actress was introduced to Assange by Vivienne Westwood in August 2014, and sought advice from him about her animal rights charity.
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