Julian Assange will leave embassy ‘soon’
|
Version 0 of 1. At a press conference Monday, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said he would leave the embassy where he been hiding in plain sight “soon,” the Guardian reported. He did not say when “soon” meant, however. Assange, whose organization facilitated the publication of materials leaked by Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning), has been in exile at the Ecuadoran embassy in London for more than two years. He is wanted in Sweden, where he allegedly sexually assaulted two women. “It has been two years since I have been granted political asylum in this embassy,” said Assange, sporting a white beard. He added: “I have not been charged with an offense in the United Kingdom or in Sweden, and there has been no public indictments in relation to my work in the United States. How can it be that such a situation in Europe arises where a person is held and his freedom of movement restricted?” Sky News reported Assange sounded “very dispirited” in a newspaper interview yesterday. “A lot of the fighting spirit seems to have gone out of him,” according to Martin Brunt. “It’s also been made clear from those around him that he’s quite ill. … He’s said to have a heart condition, a chronic lung complaint, bad eyesight, high blood-pressure, all as a result of … two years in the Ecuadoran embassy.” Assange said he is able to get only one hour of exercise per day. Ecuadoran foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, said his country will “continue to offer him our protection,” according to the Guardian. In April, the Daily Mail reported London police had spent $10 million keeping watch on the embassy. |