Julian Assange sues Ecuador

[Black Orchid]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is to launch legal action against the government of Ecuador, accusing it of violating his "fundamental rights and freedoms".

The move comes several months after Ecuador cut off communications for Australian Assange, who has been living inside the country's embassy in London for over six years.

WikiLeaks lawyer Baltasar Garzon has arrived in Ecuador to launch the case, which is set to be heard in a domestic court next week.

WikiLeaks said Ecuador had threatened to remove the protection Assange has had since being granted political asylum, and added that his access to the outside world had been "summarily cut off."

Assange fears being extradited to the United States if he leaves the embassy.

WikiLeaks said the government of Ecuador refused a visit by Human Rights Watch general counsel Dinah PoKempner, who has likened Ecuador's isolation to "solitary confinement", and had not allowed several meetings with his lawyers.

A statement said: "Ecuador's measures against Julian Assange have been widely condemned by the human rights community."

Assange's lawyers said they were also challenging the legality of the Ecuador government's "special protocol", revealed earlier this week, which makes his political asylum contingent on "censoring" his freedom of opinion, speech and association.

The protocol also requires journalists, his lawyers and anyone else seeking to see Assange to disclose private or political details, such as their social media usernames, the serial numbers and codes of their phones and tablets, with Ecuador - which the protocol says the government may "share with other agencies".

The protocol claims the Embassy may seize the property of Assange or his visitors and, without a warrant, hand it over to UK authorities, said the statement.

Pressure has mounted on Ecuador to hand Assange over to the UK, WikiLeaks believes.

It is understood that the theme of the legal action will be on Assange's isolation, ban on visits, speech restrictions, and failure to live up to international obligations.

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/julian-assa ... d-freedoms

[brian ross]

I do hope the Government of Ecuador is making Prince Julian pay rent? And his ISP bill? His cleaning bill? He seems to feel he should be provided these things for free. I wonder why?

[Black Orchid]

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has filed a lawsuit in Ecuador against new terms of asylum in the Andean country's London embassy that require him to pay for medical bills and phone calls and clean up after his pet cat, his lawyer says.

Mr Assange has not had access to the internet since it was cut off in March, Mr Garzon added, despite a WikiLeaks statement this week that it had been restored.

"Even people who are imprisoned have phone calls paid for by the state," he added, describing the obligations regarding the cat as "denigrating."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-10-20/ ... s/10399652

How dare he be asked to pay for his phone calls and medical assistance after 6 years sponging off the Embassy.

And OMG why should he have to clean up after his cat? He apparently finds it denigrating.

Entitled jerk. They should hand him over to the yanks.

[sprintcyclist]

What a wasted life he has had

[Rorschach]

What a total prick...