Assange says he will stay under Ecuador’s protection

The famous guest at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange, and Ecuadors foreign minister, Ricardo Patio, held a joint press conference on Thursday to note that two years have elapsed since the WikiLeaks founder sought diplomatic asylum.

In a video linkup from London and Quito, Assange revealed that he would not renounce Ecuadors protection and would continue to stay at the embassy, which he entered to avoid facing allegations of sexual misconduct in Sweden, and a possible extradition to the United States.

Patio confirmed that Ecuador would maintain its protection. We are going to protect Julian Assange as long as necessary and as long as he wants.

Assange said WikiLeaks would remain operative despite the financial strangulation

Talks between Ecuador and Britain to extend a safe-conduct so Assange may leave the embassy and travel to the Andean country are stalled. Patio said his governments proposal to create a mixed committee of jurists to analyze the case a year ago has come to nothing.

We have done what it was up to us to do; now we feel it is up to the United Nations agencies to establish a case, said Patio. Let us hope that civil society and the worlds journalists will stop keeping quiet on the issue of defending a reporters freedom of expression.

The Australian hacker revealed that his defense team included 30 people working in several countries, often without charging for their services. Assange stressed the emotional difficulties of being kept away from his children, and talked about the pressure on his family.

If they cant get me, perhaps they will assassinate them, or my children, he said. Some of my relatives, such as my mother, have had to change their names because of the threats.

Assange also criticized the cost of his round-the-clock surveillance for the US and Britain. The latter has already spent around six million pounds on watching him, while the cost to US coffers is not known.

Patio would not reveal any figures either, but said that Ecuador had simply reinforced security at the London embassy.

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Assange says he will stay under Ecuador’s protection