Justice accepts the withdrawal of Ecuadorian nationality to Julian Assange

(CNN Spanish) – The Ecuadorian courts resolved the withdrawal of the nationality of that country to the WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, which had been granted at the end of 2017 during the government of the then president Lenín Moreno.

This Monday, the parties involved were notified about the ruling of the Contentious Administrative Court of Pichincha that decided to accept the “injurious claim” filed by the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry on the grounds that there were a series of irregularities and non-compliance with legal requirements during the Assange’s naturalization as an Ecuadorian citizen.

The judgment of the Court, published by the Judicial Branch of Ecuador, indicates that “the nullity of the resolution by which naturalization was granted in favor of Mr. Julian Paul Assange was ratified.

Carlos Poveda, Assange’s lawyer in Ecuador, told CNN that he will appeal this court ruling as he considers that he did not have a legitimate right to defense.

“There may be a number of irregularities, but give him the right to defend himself; this is what we have asked,” Poveda emphasized.

In addition, Poveda indicated that Assange could be summoned electronically in coordination with the authorities.

In 2019 and after almost seven years of asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, the Ecuadorian government ended that status for Assange and handed the Australian over to the British authorities.

That same day, the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry determined that the granting of nationality to Assange constituted a “harmful administrative act” and suspended the effects of his naturalization, but not the withdrawal of nationality, which is what the Administrative Contentious Court has just resolved. with his sentence.

In a 2019 report, the Comptroller General of Ecuador established that there were inconsistencies and irregularities in the process of granting Ecuadorian nationality to Assange. Another report detailing the irregularities was also presented by the Foreign Ministry to the National Assembly on the same day that Assange left the embassy.

That same year, during an impeachment process against her, then-Chancellor María Fernanda Espinosa explained to Parliament that President Lenín Moreno “had full knowledge of the process” and that she responded to the directives of Moreno, who supervised and authorized the decision.

Moreno, for his part, said that it was not his decision and that he respected the actions of the former foreign minister.

The United States requested the extradition of Assange to the country to answer for the charges in accordance with the Espionage Act for his role in receiving and publishing information related to national security. In January 2021, a British judge rejected the United States’ request to extradite Assange on the grounds that it would be oppressive to his mental health.