Newly published files show Wikileaks’ Assange briefly became a Russian diplomat as part of a plan to escape London

Julian Assange: Hacker. Journalist. Diplomat?

Newly released Ecuadorean government documents have laid bare an unorthodox attempt to extricate the WikiLeaks founder from his embassy hideaway in London by naming him as a political counselor to the country’s embassy in Moscow.

But the 47-year-old Australian’s new career in international affairs was nipped in the bud when British authorities vetoed his diplomatic status, effectively blocking him from taking up the post in Russia.

The files were made public late Tuesday by Ecuadorean opposition lawmaker Paola Vintimilla, who opposes her government’s decision to grant Assange nationality. They largely corroborate a recent Guardian newspaper report that Ecuador attempted the elaborate maneuver to get Assange to Moscow just before Christmas last year.

Russian diplomats called the Guardian’s story “fake news,” but the government files show Assange briefly was made “political counselor” to the Ecuadorean Embassy in Moscow and eligible for a monthly salary pegged at $2,000.

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Ecuador also applied for a diplomatic ID card, the documents show, but the plan appears to have fallen apart with the British veto.

MORE:

apnews.com/3728e1631d57454a9502dd51d1bf441b

So Britain doesn’t honor diplomatic immunity. Good to know.

 

h/t Voluntaryist

 

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