Embassy could evict Assange

JULIAN Assange may be expelled from the Ecuadorian embassy where he has spent the past five years avoiding arrest.

The country said it was looking to end the ‘untenable impasse’ with the WikiLeaks founder, pictured, who has criticised Ecuador’s allies including Spain. Assange moved to the embassy in Central London in 2012 as he tried to avoid extradition to Sweden over charges of rape and sexual assault.

But last year, the Australian, 46, angered Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno by tweeting support for Catalan separatists.

Yesterday, Ecuador’s foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said Assange’s stay had become ‘untenable’ and she was seeking a mediator’s assistance.

The charges against Assange have been dropped by Swedish prosecutors due to the impossibility of serving him notice, but the Metropolitan Police, which spent millions of pounds maintaining watch over the embassy, said he still faced a charge of failing to surrender to a court.