Ecuadorian President's Visit To US Next Week Being Planned, No Details Yet - State Dept.

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th April, 2019) The United States is planning to host Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno next week but there are no further details about upcoming meetings in Washington at the moment, a Department of State official said following Quito's termination of political asylum of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Assange was arrested in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London earlier in the day. The UK police confirmed that the arrest was made "on behalf of the United States authorities."

"I can't preview his [Moreno's] trip next week at this time but these things are still being planned. Of course, we respect Ecuador's decision," a State Department official told reporters on Thursday.

The official declined to comment on a possible connection between the upcoming visit and Assange's arrest.

US authorities indicted Assange in connection with a Federal charge of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, the Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday. The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. However, experts and former intelligence officials have said the United States could bring additional charges against Assange.

Assange gained fame after WikiLeaks published a large number of leaked files, including some referring to US military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and conditions in Guantanamo detention camp.

Since 2012, Assange had been residing in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced a probe over allegations of sexual offenses. While the Swedish police dropped the investigation in 2017, Assange was still wary of being extradited to the United States.