Police and media members wait for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to address the press and his supporters from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
Ecuadoran foreign minister has announced his government™s plan to take legal action in an international tribunal against Britain for denying Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, safe passage to Ecuador.
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino declared on Tuesday that Ecuador is considering to sue London in the International Criminal Court at The Hague for its refusal to allow Assange safely travel to Ecuador, RT reported.
œIt™s been over a year that Mr. Assange has been in our embassy. We are seriously considering what we will do in the coming months and the possibility of using other diplomatic bodies, as we have been raising [with London] proposal after proposal,” Patino told reporters.
Assange was forced to seek refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London after he was granted political asylum by the South American nation in June 2012.
Patino further noted that he may go œfor example, to the International Court of Justice to deal with it.”
The top Ecuadoran diplomat reiterated that while British authorities have so far demonstrated their willingness to speak with Ecuadorians on the matter, they have shown little desire to resolve the case.
Patino also expressed his growing concerns about Assange™s health, since he is reportedly confined to a small room in the embassy and unable to leave the premises due to heavy police presence outside the building, waiting to seize him.
Keeping Assange inside the Ecuadorian Embassy has cost British taxpayers well over four million British pounds, since there is a permanent police presence of at least eight officers outside.
Assange is the principal founder of Wikileaks whistleblower website and requested asylum in Ecuador Embassy to avoid being extradited to Sweden, where he is accused of committing sexual crimes.
Assange, however, insists that the Swedish extradition demand is a legal smoke screen to deliver him to authorities in the US, where he is expected to face the death penalty for revealing top-secret US diplomatic and military data.
MFB/SS
Copyright: Press TV