For close to 1,000 days, one of London's most prestigious neighborhoods has been the site of a diplomatic standoff. <\/p>\n
On one side: the British government. <\/p>\n
On the other: Julian Assange, possibly the world's most-wanted political asylum seeker. <\/p>\n
The WikiLeaks founder has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy since June 19, 2012, avoiding extradition to Sweden for questioning concerning sexual assault allegations. Ecuador has granted Assange political asylum, but he cannot get to South America because British police remain stationed around the embassy, ready to detain him if he steps outside. <\/p>\n
The situation recently returned to the forefront when a freedom of information request from LBC Radio revealed that maintaining 24-hour guard around his hide-out has cost taxpayers $15.4 million. <\/p>\n
\"It is sucking our resources,\" Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe told reporters, and a review was underway of \"what options we have.\" <\/p>\n
For Assange, the options appear limited. If he leaves the embassy and is caught, he will be sent to Sweden. And once he is in Sweden, he could be extradited to the United States for prosecution on espionage charges related to WikiLeaks' massive release of classified U.S. military documentsand diplomatic records. <\/p>\n
If found guilty, he could face life in prison or even the death penalty. <\/p>\n
The statute of limitations on the rape case will expire in August 2020, but no one wants the situation to drag on unresolved for that long. <\/p>\n
From the start, Assange's team has offered Swedish prosecutors the chance to question him in the embassy. <\/p>\n
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