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Anti-government march in support of Assange to be held in Ecuador

The organizers of the upcoming act of protest called for nationwide mobilization "to condemn injustice against Julian Assange"

MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. Supporters of Ecuador’s ex-President Rafael Correa will hold a march as an act of protest against the policy pursued by incumbent Ecuadorian leader Lenin Moreno because of his decision to deny asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the Citizen’s Revolution party said in a Twitter post.

The organizers of the upcoming act of protest called for nationwide mobilization "to condemn injustice against Julian Assange." During the march, which will be held in Ecuador’s capital Quito on April 16, its participants will express their indignation over the president’s actions, the statement said.

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The Citizen’s Revolution movement is led by Correa who now lives in Belgium where his wife comes from. On Thursday, he criticized Moreno’s move in his Twitter account labelling him as the worst traitor in the history of Ecuador and Latin America.

In 2012, Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, which had issued a warrant for his arrest on sexual harassment and rape charges. His worst fear was that Sweden could deport him to the United States, where he would face 35 years in prison or capital punishment for publishing classified State Department documents. Assange dismissed these accusations as politically motivated.

In March 2018, Ecuador banned Assange’s access to the Internet and his phone communication, claiming that the Australian had continued making political statements. In January, Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Jose Valencia advised that Assange had better leave the country’s embassy in London.

On Thursday, Ecuador terminated the WikiLeaks founder’s political asylum. British police arrested Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy on a US extradition warrant. The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office thanked the Ecuadorian government afterwards for assistance in Assange’s arrest.

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The Russian embassy has not yet commented on the situation

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