Ecuador's Revolucion Ciudadana (Citizen Revolution) political movement, which supports the country's former president, Rafael Correa, has called on Ecuadorians to gather in Quito on April 16 to protest the decision of incumbent President Lenin Moreno to strip WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of asylum status
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th April, 2019) Ecuador's Revolucion Ciudadana (Citizen Revolution) political movement, which supports the country's former president, Rafael Correa, has called on Ecuadorians to gather in Quito on April 16 to protest the decision of incumbent President Lenin Moreno to strip WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of asylum status.On Thursday, Assange was arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London at the request of the US authorities after Ecuador withdrew political asylum granted to him. The WikiLeaks founder, who has become famous for leaking classified US government data, now faces extradition to the United States on charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion and could get up to five years in jail.
"The [possible] extradition of Julian Assange would be a flagrant violation of international law, which recognizes the principle of non-extradition of a refugee or a asylum seeker to a country where their life, integrity or freedom may be in danger," the statement, posted by the movement on Twitter, read, adding that the manifestation would take place in Quito on April 16.
Correa has sharply criticized Moreno for withdrawing Assange's asylum and allowing him to be arrested by UK police, and called the president "the greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history."
