For three years, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been forced to take refuge at Ecuador’s embassy in London, fearing arrest and eventual extradition to the United States if he ever steps outside.
Four teams of eight police are maintained at all times to ensure Assange does not escape, at a shocking cost to British taxpayers.
Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012, where he’s remained ever since under de facto imprisonment. At the time he first entered the embassy, Assange faced possible extradition to Sweden, where he was under investigation for four offenses relating to an alleged sexual assault. Assange and his supporters have maintained that the charges are merely a pretense to see him extradited from Sweden to the U.S., where he could be charged in connection with the release of thousands of documents leaked by imprisoned whistleblower Chelsea Manning.