Britain to lodge formal protest with Ecuador over Assange
August 13, 2015
A statement issued by the British Foreign Office minister, Hugo Swire, on Thursday, said London's ambassador to Quito would formally lodge the protest on the same day.
"Ecuador must recognise that its decision to harbour Mr Assange more than three years ago has prevented the proper course of justice," the statement said.
Assange, 44, entered Ecuador's embassy in June 2012 in a bid to escape possible extradition to Sweden where investigators want to question him over an allegation of rape made against him in 2010. Since then, Assange has never left the embassy and earlier on Thursday, Swedish prosecutors announced that they had dropped their inquiries into three other allegations - of sexual molestation and unlawful coercion - after their five-year statute of limitations expired. However, they said they would continue their inquiries regarding the rape allegation, as the statute of limitations for that alleged crime is 10 years.
A European arrest warrant has been issued for Assange and British authorities have said they will arrest him as soon as he leaves the embassy. Assange, an Australian national, denies any wrongdoing.
Fears of US extradition
Assange has also expressed the fear that if he leaves Ecuador's embassy, he could be extradited to the United States, where the authorities want to put him on trial for publishing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables five years ago.
Swire's statement also referred to the estimated 10 million pounds (14 million euros, $15.6 million) that it has cost Britain to maintain a 24-hour police guard around the embassy for more than three years.
"It is completely unacceptable that the British taxpayer has had to foot the bill for this abuse of diplomatic relations," said Swire, adding that as long as the rape allegation remained outstanding, Britain still had a legal obligation to extradite Assange.
The Home Office minister concluded that Ecuador's continuing to harbor Assange "is being seen as a growing stain on the country's reputation."
pfd/rc (AFP, Reuters)