WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange’s defense lawyer filed a complaint Monday before Ecuador’s Attorney General against several members of its diplomatic mission in the United Kingdom (U.K.) for alleged espionage inside the embassy during his asylum in London.
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According to Carlos Poveda, Assange’s lawyer, crimes were committed and about 10 people are connected to an alleged extortion case which emerged from documents and information passed to third parties.
“How they operated within the embassy has to be investigated, that is why personnel from the diplomatic mission is cited. As well, the Ecuadorean ProSecurity team, have said that they presented a daily report to the ambassador and that the information was destroyed, which is false since the information ended up in the hands of third parties,” Poveda told teleSUR.
One day before Assange’s arrest, WikiLeaks said video, audio, photographs, copies of private legal documents and even a medical report turned up in Spain, where a group threatened to start publishing unless they were paid US$3.4 million.
An extortion case was denounced on the weekend before the National Court in Madrid, in which three Spanish citizens would be involved, but now the whistleblower’s defense wants to find out how that information proceeded from the embassy to external individuals.
“While Mr. Assange and his Spanish lawyer, Aitor Martinez, discussed the action of protection hearing, pictures were taken of the legal strategy. The same day the security personnel and two people from the embassy were present. They attempted to sell the document as well,” added Poveda.
On April 11, Assange's seven-year asylum was abruptly removed and then arrested by British police. Immediately the U.S. charged him with "computer hacking conspiracy," over an allegation he conspired with former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer. His defense is also fighting the extradition bid from the U.S.
Meanwhile, his Ecuadorean defense team told teleSUR they are expecting a visit from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the matter and the final report from the international body.