The Ecuadorian judicial system officially notified Australians that his naturalization was invalid in a letter in response to a request made by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South American countries.
If naturalization is granted based on concealment of relevant facts, false documents or fraud, it is considered destructive.
The Ecuadorian authorities stated that Assange’s naturalization letter had multiple inconsistencies, different signatures, possible changes to documents, and unpaid fees.
Assange’s lawyer Carlos Poveda said that the decision was made without due process, and Assange was not allowed to appear in court.
“On the day (Assange) was cited, he was deprived of his liberty and a health crisis occurred in the deprivation center where he was held,” Mr. Poveda said.
The lawyer stated that he will file an appeal requesting that the decision be expanded and clarified. “Not only the importance of nationality, but more importantly, respect for rights and follow proper procedures to withdraw nationality.”
Assange obtained Ecuadorian citizenship in January 2018 as part of a failed attempt by the then President Lenin Moreno’s government to turn him into a diplomat to get him out of its embassy in London.
On Monday, the Pichincha Administrative Dispute Court reversed the decision.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador told the Associated Press that the court “acted independently and followed due process in cases that occurred during the previous administration and were filed by the same previous government.”
Assange, 50, has been detained in London’s heavily guarded Belmarsh Prison since he was arrested in April 2019 for skipping bail in a separate legal battle seven years ago.
He spent seven years in the London Embassy in Ecuador, where he fled in 2012 to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of rape and sexual assault. Sweden abandoned sex crime investigations in November 2019 because time has passed.
U.S. prosecutors have charged Assange with 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer misuse over thousands of leaked military and diplomatic documents published by WikiLeaks. These charges are punishable by up to 175 years in prison.
Prosecutors said that Assange illegally helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal classified diplomatic cables and military files later released by WikiLeaks.
Assange’s lawyer argued that he is a journalist and has the right to enjoy the First Amendment freedom of speech protection for publishing documents exposing U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, the British High Court approved the US government’s appeal against the WikiLeaks founder’s decision that he could not be sent to the United States to accept espionage charges.
In January of this year, a lower court judge rejected the request of the United States to send Assange to the United States.
