Ecuadorian authorities announced today that they will end additional security measures at the embassy in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is located, measures introduced by the previous government of Rafael Correa, in power until 2017. President Lenin Moreno ordered the immediate withdrawal of additional security measures at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, his cabinet announced, adding that from now on that embassy will have similar security measures as others in the world. Moreno was reacting to the writing of the British newspaper The Guardian, which reported an investigation by the site Focus Ecuador, according to which the Ecuadorian government, in addition to the sanctuary, also spied on Assange. Assange, 46, has been in the embassy in London since June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over allegations of rape and sexual abuse, which he denies having committed. Citing Ecuadorian intelligence documents, the Guardian reported that authorities in Quito allocated a budget of five million dollars (4,2 million euros) initially to "protect" Assange, before the security operation turned into systematic surveillance of the WikiLeaks founder. . The Guardian states that Assange himself managed to enter that system and discover the wiretapping of his official and personal conversations. WikiLeaks, however, denied those allegations, evaluating them as defamation. Relations between Assange and Ecuador have deteriorated in recent months. After several statements by Assange in which he took positions on international issues on which the authorities disagree, Ecuador suspended some communication systems at the embassy. Moreno, who succeeded Correa in May 2017, said protection for Assange would still continue. Assange is facing arrest for violating his parole in 2012 and will be arrested as soon as he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy. In addition to Sweden, the USA is under investigation because WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of pages of US diplomatic correspondence and secret military documents.
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