DAILY TELEGRAPH, BBC (UK), EXPRESO (Ecuador)
LONDON - British police said Wednesday that Julian Assange had violated the terms of his bail, and was subject to re-arrest after the 40 year-old Wikileaks founder spent the night at the embassy of Ecuador, where he is seeking asylum.
Assange, who is set to be extradited from the UK to Sweden to face rape charges, requested asylum late Tuesday under the United Nations Human Rights Declaration. A Metropolitan police spokeswoman told the Daily Telegraph that Assange had violated the terms of his bail by staying at the embassy: "One of the conditions was that he was supposed to be at a named bail address between 10pm and 8am, and it was 10.20pm that we were notified that he had breached that particular condition."
Assange had posted bail of 200,000 pounds, which was contributed by several high-profile supporters including filmmakers Ken Loach and Michael Moore, who now stand to lose their money.
BBC reported that if the situation was resolved quickly by Ecuador "effectively putting him on the doorstep of the embassy" for police to arrest, he may not be prosecuted for the breach and the extradition to Sweden would take its course.
Assange released a statement Tuesday night: “I can confirm that today I arrived at the Ecuadorian Embassy and sought diplomatic sanctuary and political asylum...I am grateful to the Ecuadorian ambassador and the government of Ecuador for considering my application."
Ecuadorian daily Expreso reported a statement by an embassy official saying Assange's presence should not be interpreted as interference of the Ecuador government in either British or Swedish judicial proceedings.
