Assange ploy flops

Ecuadorean citizenship scheme no ‘get out of jail free’ card

JULIAN Assange has been made a citizen of Ecuador in a bid to end his five year-plus stay at the nation’s embassy in London.

British authorities have already declared the WikiLeaks founder’s new status will not help him escape an arrest warrant or even extradition to the US if he leaves the embassy.

“Nobody should pretend that granting him Ecuadorean citizenship is a route to solving this longstanding issue,” a British government spokesman told reporters in London.

Earlier, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa had confirmed that Mr Assange was made an Ecuadorean citizen on December 12.

The country naturalised Mr Assange before it approached Britain on December 20 to request diplomatic status for him, she told reporters.

Diplomatic immunity would allow the 46-year-old to leave the embassy for the first time since 2012, when he fled there to escape extradition to Sweden for questioning over two rape complaints. Sweden dropped the investigation into the complaints last year but a warrant for Mr Assange’s arrest remains active in Britain for skipping bail in 2012.

Mr Assange, who retains his Australian citizenship as Ecuador permits dual nationality, refuses to leave the embassy over fears he would be extradited to the US over WikiLeaks’ release of classified US documents in 2010.

Earlier this week, the British government revealed it had denied Ecuador’s request to grant Mr Assange diplomatic immunity.

“The Government of Ecuador knows that the way to re- solve the situation is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice,” a spokesman said.

Ms Espinosa told reporters that Ecuador would not push the issue because of the “good relations we have with the United Kingdom”.

Ecuador had earlier called for a third country or personality to be a mediator to help resolve the situation with British authorities.