Ecuador confirms granting citizenship to Assange

By Susana Noguera

BOGOTA

Ecuador’s Foreign Minister said Thursday that officials had granted citizenship to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange last December.

María Fernanda Espinosa made the announcement after the newspaper El Comercio discovered Assange’s name in Ecuador’s Civil Registry.

The Australian, who was granted political asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy five-and-a-half years ago, had requested last September to be naturalized as an Ecuadorean and was granted citizenship on Dec. 12, said authorities.

His detention has been a priority for Great Britain and the U.S.

Assange had sought asylum in Ecuador’s London embassy in 2012 after losing court battles to avoid being extradited to Sweden over a rape allegation.

In May last year, Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation into the allegation, saying that all possibilities to conduct it "are exhausted.”

But British police say they are bound to comply with the arrest warrant issued against him five years ago.

Assange had also resisted being questioned in Sweden over the rape allegation out of fear that he might be extradited to the U.S. over Wikileaks’ exposure of classified documents.

The U.S. is seeking to file charges against Assange for helping Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee, release a number of classified files that belonged to the agency.

British authorities have not confirmed whether they have received an extradition request for Assange to the U.S.

*Daniela Mendoza and Maria Paula Triviño contributed to this story