Great Britain has rejected the request of the Government of Ecuador to grant diplomatic status to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, said the spokesman of the British Foreign Office, reports Tanjug.
He said this after it was announced that Assange may or has been granted Ecuadorian citizenship.
"The government of Ecuador has recently requested diplomatic status for Assange in Britain, Britain has not approved it, nor are we negotiating with Ecuador about it. Ecuador knows that the only way to resolve this is for Assange to leave the embassy and face justice," said the spokesman, writes the "Guardian" newspaper.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's name has appeared in a database of Ecuadorian citizens, fueling speculation that he may have obtained citizenship in that country.
Assange has been in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than five years, where he was granted asylum in 2012 to avoid arrest in Britain and extradition to Sweden.
Although the Reuters agency found the name "Julian Paul Assange" in the Registry of Citizens of Ecuador, where there are Ecuadorian citizens, the spokeswoman of the Registry wanted to answer the question of whether he received citizenship.
Neither Assange nor his lawyers wanted to answer the journalists' questions.
Ecuador's foreign ministry said it was working to resolve Assange's situation, but did not mention the issue of citizenship, nor did it want to comment on the allegations.
The Komersio newspaper announced yesterday that Assange had received an identification number and was registered as a citizen of Ecuador.
Assange has been living in the Embassy of Ecuador in London since 2012, when he was granted political asylum.
Assange fears that if he is arrested in London, he will be extradited to the United States to face trial after WikiLeaks published thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in the biggest leak in US history.
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