No extradition request for Assange: Ecuador

QUITO: Ecuador said on Wednesday it has received no extradition request for Julian Assange, which his lawyers have long cited as the reason the Wikileaks founder has refused to leave its London embassy.

“We have told Assange: ‘Up to now, as far as we know, there is no extradition request from any country,’” Foreign Minister Jose Valencia told state-owned Radio Public.

The 47-year-old Australian has been holed up at Ecuador’s embassy since 2012, but Ecuador has shown increasing signs in recent months that it is preparing to terminate his six-year stay.

Valencia said the cost of hosting Assange so far had come to around six million dollars.

Assange fears being extradited to the United States to face charges over the Wikileaks website’s release of troves of sensitive US government files.

He found refuge in the embassy in London after a British judge ruled he should be extradited to face allegations of sexual assault in Sweden.

That case has since been dropped, but Britain still wants him to face justice over breaching his bail conditions following his arrest on the sexual assault allegations.

His lawyer Carlos Poveda said last month Assange was prepared to surrender to British police if he receives assurances he will not be extradited.