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Ecuador deplores inaction from Britain, Sweden over Assange

Xinhua, August 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Ecuadoran government on Thursday deplored inaction from Britain and Sweden over the legal situation of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has been living at the Ecuadoran Embassy in London since 2012.

The Ecuadoran Foreign Ministry made the statement in a press release after Swedish prosecutors stopped investigation into three out of the four allegations of sexual assault against Assange.

The three charges had to be dropped as the legal time limit of five years for pressing the charges expired on Thursday.

Quito has shown its willingness to facilitate Sweden's legal process up to 31 times since Ecuador granted Assange political asylum in 2012, said the press release.

Both Sweden and Britain have ignored Ecuador's proposals and calls for a dialogue, said the ministry.

Assange, a former hacker and journalist, still faces one rape charge and therefore cannot leave the Ecuadoran Embassy in London as he would run the risk of being arrested and extradited to Sweden.

Assange fears that once in Sweden, he would be transported to the United States where he could face trial for leaking thousands of classified diplomatic cables and information related to the United States through WikiLeaks. Endi