Ecuador's London embassy

Ecuadoran President Lenin Moreno on April 14 defended his decision to overturn Julian Assange's asylum status, claiming in an interview with the Guardian newspaper that the WikiLeaks founder had tried to set up a "center for spying" in Ecuador's London embassy.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange woke up in a British jail on April 12 at the start of a likely lengthy extradition battle after a dramatic end to his seven-year stay in Ecuador's London embassy.

Ecuador's new president Lenin Moreno warned Julian Assange on May 25 not to interfere in the politics of the South American country, whose embassy the WikiLeaks founder has lived in for the past five years.

Socialist Lenin Boltaire Moreno was set to extend a decade of leftist rule in Ecuador on April 3 after official results showed him winning the presidential election, as his conservative rival cried foul.

Swedish prosecutors still believe an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should be upheld, they said on April 14 in reply to the Stockholm District Court that will decide whether to lift the warrant. 

France swiftly rejected on July 3 a request for asylum by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

The founder of the transparency website had appealed directly to President Francois Hollande, days after Wikileaks published documents showing the United States had spied on successive French leaders, including Hollande himself.