Enlarge image
Photo: Dominic Lipinski / dpa
A court has revoked the Ecuadorian citizenship of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
When the native Australian was granted citizenship in 2017, administrative errors were made, reported the newspaper El Comercio, citing an administrative court in the capital Quito.
Assange's attorney Carlos Poveda announced that he would appeal the first instance decision.
Assange is currently waiting in London's maximum security Belmarsh Prison for a decision on the US government's extradition request.
The US accuses him of stealing secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning and publishing it on the WikiLeaks Internet platform.
This put the lives of informants in danger in many countries.
If convicted in the USA, he faces a long prison sentence.
Assange fled to Ecuador's embassy in London in 2012 before being extradited.
There he received asylum and in 2017 he received Ecuadorian citizenship.
The government of the South American country planned at that time to give Assange diplomatic status and thus to be able to get him safely out of the embassy.
Later, however, there were tensions between Quito and Assange.
The Ecuadorian government revoked asylum status in 2019 and Assange was arrested by the British police for violating bail conditions.
asa / dpa