Ecuador grants citizenship to Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks

Ecuador has granted citizenship to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in an attempt to resolve the political impasse over his continued presence in the United Kingdom (UK). Ecuador Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa informed that Assange, who is an Australian, became an Ecuadoran citizen on December 12, 2017. This news announced on January 12, 2018. Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since 2012, when he was faced with extradition to Sweden for allegedly sexually assaulting two women. Ecuador has also sought to give Assange diplomatic status, but Britain has rejected the request. The diplomatic immunity would allow him to leave the embassy without the possibility of being arrested for jumping bail in 2012.