JULIAN ASSANGE HAS said he will leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been for the past two years.
“I can confirm that I am leaving the embassy soon,” he told a press conference this morning.
However, the 43-year-old would not expand on reports about his health or the reasons for leaving. Newspapers in the UK today said he was suffering with heart and lung problems and needed treatment.
He added that is exit will be “perhaps not for the reasons the press and Sky News are saying at the moment”.
“As you can imagine being detained in various ways for four years and embassy for two years, with no outside area and no sunlight. As a result of the obstruction… It is an environment in which any healthy person would find themselves soon enough with certain difficulties they have to manage,” he said when asked about his health situation.
“The United Nations minimum standard for prisoners – I would remind you that I am not a prisoner, I have not been charged – is one hour a day.”
During the press conference, Assange noted a number of times that he has not been charged with any sex offences in Sweden. He faces extradition, though, as he is wanted for questioning in that country. Assange, however, believes his refuge has given the US time to build a case against him.
The basis of his asylum is not the impending questioning in Sweden, but the investigation by the US department of justice.
The Ecuadorian Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said the country would continue to offer Assange protection.
“The situation must come to an end — two years is simply too long,” he said.
“We continue to offer him our protection… we continue to be ready to talk with the British government and the Swedish government to find a solution to this serious breach of Julian Assange’s human rights.”
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told AFP after the briefing: “What Julian meant is that his plan is to leave as soon as the British government honours its commitment.”
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say