02/08/2013

he Ecuadorian president Lucio Gutierrez, who seeks re-occupy the head of state in the elections of February 17, said today that could revoke his country granted asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, if elected.

"We get to the presidency we will look seriously, completely impartial, and would review the decision taken in haste by the Ecuadorian government," he said in a meeting with the foreign press.

Assange, 41, took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is suspected of sexual offenses.

The Australian exhacker states that actually suffer political persecution by the disclosure by WikiLeaks of thousands of confidential diplomatic cables U.S.

Gutierrez said that if elected will "on balance" the right to freedom of expression, which claims to defend Assange, along with the rights of the two Swedish women who accuse him of abusing them. "Who speaks, who echoes the human rights of these women?" Asked the leader of the Patriotic Society Party.

"In Sweden, the judiciary is independent, there is no justice handled as handled here in Ecuador," said the candidate, who accused the president, Rafael Correa, to control at will the Andean country's judicial system, which he denied. Gutierrez, who was ousted as president in 2005 by Congress, which he accused of "dereliction of duty" amid growing protests in Quito, lies third in the polls, after Guillermo Lasso exbanquero and Correa, who are led by wide margin.

Disclosure of surveys or polls is banned in the Andean nation since last February 7. The presidential aspirant also accused Correa of ​​"double standards" by giving asylum to Assange while "chasing" Ecuadorian media for publishing "blatant corruption of this government."

On 2 February, the Foreign Minister of Ecuador, Ricardo Patiño, told Efe that Ecuador had received a further communication from the UK on the case of Assange, who was studying, but there was no progress towards a possible solution for the future.

The Australian can not leave the Ecuadorian embassy because if he does he will be arrested by the British police guarding the building. Ecuador has asked the United Kingdom a pass to freely leave the country, something that the government of Prime Minister David Cameron has not agreed yet.

Via DiarioLibre