Julian Assange is the founder of Wikileaks. He was arrested on 9th of April, 2019. The arrest took place in London. It was from the Ecuador Embassy. Moreover, the arrest was because of two warrants. One warrant was from the United States. While the other one was from the United Kingdom.
Julian Assange arrest: the death penalty
The warrant from the United States as of December 2017. It is related to the conspiracy with Chelsea Manning. He is alleged to be conspiring with Manning. Manning is the Army intelligence analyst. It is Chelsea Manning who leaked several classified materials to Wikileaks.
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United States has given assurance to the South American country to spare Assange of the death penalty.
This is during the back-channel negotiations. The negotiations were for evicting Assange from the London embassy of the South American country. This is according to a report.
Because of this eviction, Assange will now face the legal process which he was hiding from. Assange has been hiding in London. He was doing so to avoid being extradited to Sweden.
Extradition conditions and requests
Ecuador strictly opposes the death penalty. It is because of this that they wanted an assurance from the U.S. The assurance is that Julian Assange will be spared the death penalty. This is if he is extradited from the country.
Ecuador had sent a prior request to the United Kingdom. It was that Assange will not be extradited to a country which practices capital punishment.
The deal was brokered by the ambassador of Ecuador to Germany. Moreover, his U.S counterpart who was then in Germany was also a part of the deal. Therefore, post the assurance from the U.S this deal was brokered.
According to reports, Richard Grenell informed State Department regarding this request. Richard Grenell is the envoy of the United States. Moreover, the Deputy Attorney General agreed to the request.
Because of this, Ecuador has been facing financial pressure as well. According to reports, the country has spent a lot on Assange. About $10 million is the total sum of the amount spent. This is the sum total of his food and medical expenses. It also includes his legal expenses. The amount has been spent for the past seven years.
Moreover, there is no confirmation from the United States. This is regarding whether Assange will be spared capital punishment or not. However, they have given assurances now. So they might not back off.