Free prisoner in a London building
The surveillance of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange by British police is costing British taxpayers around €11,000 a day, Scotland Yard revealed today.
From June 19, 2012, the day Assange - who had been accused in Sweden of rape - fled to the Ecuadorian embassy in London and sought asylum, until May 2014, the surveillance cost a total of 6.4 million pounds (about 8 million euros).
This amount includes the salaries of the police officers working on this case, the use of vehicles, offices and equipment.
For two years, police officers have been permanently stationed outside the Ecuadorian embassy, which is housed in a building very close to Harrods stores.
For security reasons, Scotland Yard did not specify how many officers are involved in monitoring the 42-year-old Australian. If Assange decides to take even one step outside the embassy, he will be arrested and extradited to Sweden to stand trial on rape and sexual assault charges.
The former hacker, who claims he is innocent, fears that Stockholm will extradite him to the US to stand trial there for leaking hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic documents through the WikiLeaks website.
"We are relying on Ecuador to help bring an end to Assange's difficult and costly hosting," a British Home Office spokesman said on Wednesday.
However, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said on Tuesday that his country would provide protection to Assange for as long as the Australian wishes.
Source: planet-greece.blogspot.com
