‘Ecuador: Court Rejects WikiLeaks’ Assange Lawsuit Against Gov’t’

Via Telesur English, Oct. 29, 2018 (oddly, the link goes to Page Not Found today)

Assange said the new rules were a sign Ecuador was trying to push him out and said Ecuadorean President had already decided to end his asylum but had not yet officially given the order.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s lawsuit was rejected Monday by an Ecuadorean court after the whistleblower sued the government over violation of his fundamental rights as amid his stay in the country’s London embassy as an asylee.

Assange, speaking from the Ecuadorean embassy in London via teleconference, pointed out that, Ecuador is seeking to end his asylum in its London embassy and hand him over to the United States, citing a new set of rules governing his residence at the Andean nation’s diplomatic mission as evidence.

The lawsuit challenges the new rules, which require him to pay for medical bills, phone calls and clean up after his pet cat.”

[The Rules are far more strident and dangerous than that; see:LEAKED: Here Are the Demands Ecuador Has Given Julian Assange in Order to End His Isolation’, thegatewaypundit.com, Oct. 15, 2018, including the massive invasions of privacy for his Visitors, and Medical:

“The document says that Assange must submit to the quarterly evaluations with medical specialists at his own expense.

The results of any examinations will be kept private.

In case of a medical emergency or at the express request of mr. Assange, the Head of the Mission will authorize your transfer, as soon as possible, to receive care from physicians outside the Embassy,” the document says.

The UK has repeatedly denied Assange safe passage to a hospital after doctors who examined him called for him to be allowed to go and be treated for his deteriorating health. If he was to be transported to a hospital, it is extremely likely he would be arrested.”

John Bolton would no doubt be driving the ambulance, and it would head straight to the airport, next stop: Gitmo, Cuba.]

Assange’s lawyer said that his client would be appealing the decision and that another hearing would take place in the near future

During the hearing, Assange said the new rules were a sign Ecuador was trying to push him out and said Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno had already decided to end his asylum but had not yet officially given the order.”

“Regarding the question of whether it’s in the State’s interest to maintain the asylum, a source at the foreign ministry stated that Mr. Assange may keep his asylum if it is in his interest if he abides by the rules the judge has deemed constitutional.

His comments prompted the South American country’s top government attorney, Iñigo Salvador, to interrupt him and warn him not to make political statements during the proceedings.

Assange’s possible handover was also hinted by former President Rafael Correa in an interview with RT. Correa, during whose leadership Assange was granted asylum in the embassy, also mentioned that he is an Ecuadorean citizen since 2017 and deserves his fundamental rights to be protected by the country.

Court officials told journalists they could not record any of the statements made during the hearing.

Salvador did not directly respond to Assange’s allegations, but he had told reporters last week Assange was welcome to stay in the embassy with the new rules. He also said the United Kingdom in August had assured Assange would not be extradited if he left the embassy, where he has lived since 2012.

The new rules, against which WikiLeaks lawyer filed a lawsuit, Assange is responsible for getting his own food thereby increasing his risk of arrest by U.K. authorities. His visitation rights have also been restricted.

Ecuadorean embassy also said it is not responsible for the “food, medical provisions, laundry or other costs related to Julian Assange from December 1, 2018, and onward.” The diplomats underlined that he will also have to pay for and clean up after his pet cat.” [snip]

In a departure from its previous practice of maintaining a dialogue with British authorities over Assange’s situation, Ecuador’s Foreign Minister José Valencia told Reuters last week that the government would no longer intervene on Assange’s behalf, adding that the government was “frustrated” by the lawsuit.”

Oh, yes, FM Valencia: we’re sure you’ve been intervening on Assange’s behalf…you bastid Amerikan suck-up.  Oh wait: you mean ‘as Rafael Correa had, got it.

WikiLeaks Twit Longer: ‘Statement: Julian Assange launches case over his continued gagging, threat’, Oct. 19, 2018

Oddly, when I’d checked the WL Twitter account twice yesterday, they didn’t have a word about this news, and don’t as of this a.m..  I’d found it accidentally looking for Telesur’s Brazil page.

Ah, Mike Head at wsws.org expands on this creepy news this morning, bless his heart: (a few bits)

“In line with this silencing of Assange, court officials told journalists they could not record any of the statements made during the hearing. Nevertheless, reports of Assange’s warning of the move against him were broadcast internationally.”

[Wot?  Whistleblower Leaks in Quito?  Search-and-destroy, Lenin Moreno!]

This is an indication of the widespread global support for the courageous journalist and for WikiLeaks, which continues to publish leaks exposing the crimes of the US and other governments, along with the corporate giants that work closely with them.”

Ecuadorian judge Karina Martinez swiftly rejected the lawsuit, saying the country’s foreign ministry was in charge of determining Assange’s living conditions. Assange’s legal team immediately appealed the ruling. “The Ecuadorian state has an international responsibility to protect Assange,” attorney Carlos Poveda said.”

[Remember Assange’s attorneys had said that the hearing would be in a domestic court, whatever that is, but why there?]

“Significantly, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Jose Valencia, who has supervised the preparation of the new protocol, declined to comment on Assange’s assertion that Ecuador sought to hand him over to the United States.

The protocol—contemptuously depicted by many corporate media outlets as being about trivial issues such as Assange’s cat and personal hygiene—is a clear violation of the right to political asylum. It not only prohibits the WikiLeaks founder from making any political comments deemed detrimental to Ecuador or its “good relations” with “any other state.” It also makes clear that he and his communications, as well as anyone who visits him, will be subjected to surveillance, with the results shared with US and British spy agencies.”

Head writes about the ‘medical calumnies’ as well.  You know most of the rest.

Share
up
0 users have voted.

Comments

wendy davis's picture

either alligator ed or ellen north offline. the gator hasn't been around since oct. 2, and although i got his email address from the Member Contact Project and emailed him a week or so ago...i haven't heard back.

ellen north disappeared longer ago than that, no DM of mine brought either of them forward (although the most recent one to the gator...has gone into the ether (an x-file).

it's just hard not to be concerned given...all we face in life, and how fragile life can be.

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

I pm'd her to see if she was okay and when she came back she said that her computer had been broken. I don't know why the Alligator has been absent. Detroit and a few other have also been absent for awhile.

If government didn't commit war crimes and then hid them from us Julian wouldn't have anything to write about. He has said too high a price for what he has done.

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

mimi's picture

@snoopydawg
something is wrotten in the state of Denmark the Evening Blues.
Where have all the writers gone?

[video:https://youtu.be/1y2SIIeqy34]

Cray 2

up
0 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

for both of them, snoopy, although in both their cases my concerns may be warranted. still, let's hope all is okay enough with both of them, as well as detroit.

i really love wikiLeaks' motto: 'We Open Governments'. how succinct a mission statement.

by the by, this just came in on the popular resistance newsletter, and my eyes are too crap today from reading to even see it all, although i can tell some things are form old stratfor files used to ballast her beliefs. but of course no one should trust the UK not to turn him over for rendition to amerika. i just think w have to think: the last six months, sessions: a priority, the Ds letter, etc., the ovien queen: drone him, and tra la la.

Proof of Assange Extradition to the U.S.’, angelof-truth.com

up
0 users have voted.
snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

an American or foreign journalists what the U.K. is doing to Assange. This country and the media would be all over that story. The absurdity is that people loved Wikileaks when they were exposing Bush's dirty secrets, but when they started exposing Obama's they turned on them. Now they think that Wikileaks caused Her the election because they worked with Russia. And so many of them refuse to accept that the charges against him were cooked up. I have fun on Twitter with these people.

up
0 users have voted.

Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

on twitter, lol. yeah, there are the odd charges that journalists are being killed, jailed, silenced in turkey, russia, etc., but not the furor involved with the wikileaks publisher. in fact, jen robinson (one of julian's attorneys as i know you know) tweets about a lot of them.

but the 'russia did everything' theme is so prevalent, *and was the cause* of the #TridentJuncture operations (still going on, come to think of it) off russia's shores...was partially why i was kind of amazed that few even commented on my diary of the whooosh-worthy NATO operation. but then again, maybe i hadn't connected the dots well enough.

oops, gotta go for now.

up
0 users have voted.
EdMass's picture

incredibly evil and despotic people in the world, Julian tops the list.

Why, because he and the Wikileaks team consistently bring forward the corruption of Governments around the world.

He must be punished for the sacred good that is our pure understanding of what our Governments tell us.

1984 anyone?

up
0 users have voted.

Prof: Nancy! I’m going to Greece!
Nancy: And swim the English Channel?
Prof: No. No. To ancient Greece where burning Sapho stood beside the wine dark sea. Wa de do da! Nancy, I’ve invented a time machine!

Firesign Theater

Stop the War!

wendy davis's picture

@EdMass

be such a traitor! orwell, where down is up, war is peace, etc. now were at orwellian 6.0, no?

up
0 users have voted.
wendy davis's picture

as on my kagame diary. mr. wd and i have date to watch the film version of kurt vonnegut's 'slaughterhouse five'.

the otherworldly carlos santana and everlast's 'put your lights on':

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCBS5EtszYI]

dream of a better, more just world if you can,

up
0 users have voted.