Julian Assange lost his citizenship in Ecuador. An administrative court in Quito, Ecuador, has found irregularities in the naturalization process, such as the use of different signatures, altered documents, non-payment of fees and inability to reside in the country. For these reasons he declared that the granting of citizenship was invalid.
The court also assessed the interview for Assange's request and found it "unjustified and illegal".
Assange was notified that he had lost his citizenship in a letter from the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry. Carlos Poveda's lawyer, of course, was not happy at all and said he would file an appeal against the decision.
The founder of Wikileaks was granted citizenship by Ecuador for his appointment as a diplomat to use the immunity granted to him by the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he spent seven years of his life confined to an office that he converted into an apartment.
Ο Assange ended up at the Ecuadorian embassy because seeking asylum from the Swedish authorities investigating certain alleged sexual offenses. Sweden stopped the investigation in 2019, but Assange continued to be hosted at the Embassy.
The loss of Ecuadorian citizenship was to be expected, as the country did not get along well with Assange to the extent that it facilitated his arrest and removal from the London embassy. Ecuador has stopped supporting its fight against Assange's extradition to the United States.
