WikiLeaks Founder Assange Plans to Leave Embassy ‘Soon’

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said he is planning to leave the Ecuadorian embassy soon, potentially bringing to an end over two years of self-imposed asylum in London. Bloombergs Caroline Hyde reports on Bloomberg Surveillance. (Source: Bloomberg)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said he is planning to leave the Ecuadorian embassy soon, potentially bringing to an end over two years of self-imposed asylum in London.

Speaking at a press conference inside the Mayfair embassy today, Assange, 43, who risks arrest as soon as he steps outside the building, said the ordeal has caused him heart and lung problems and 7 million pounds ($11.7 million) in legal costs.

The embassy has no outside areas, no sunlight, Assange told reporters in the briefing broadcast live on the Internet. Its an environment in which any healthy person would find themselves soon enough with certain difficulties they would have to manage.

Assange sought refuge with Ecuador in June 2012, after exhausting options in U.K. courts to avoid extradition to face questioning on allegations of rape and sexual molestation during a 2010 visit to Sweden. The Australian national, who says hes innocent and hasnt been charged with a crime, has refused to return to the Nordic country, citing risks that he will be extradited to the U.S. over the release of secret documents by WikiLeaks.

Assange is accused in Sweden of failing to use a condom with one woman and having sex with another while she was asleep. The women, both supporters of WikiLeaks, let him stay at their homes during a speaking tour in 2010.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is accused in Sweden of failing to use a condom with one woman and having sex with another while she was asleep. Close

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is accused in Sweden of failing to use a condom with one woman and having sex with another while she was asleep.

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WikiLeaks Founder Assange Plans to Leave Embassy ‘Soon’