Ecuador Calls Out Julian Assange for ‘Putting Feces’ on Walls of London Embassy

Ecuador accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of “putting feces” on the walls of the country’s London embassy during his asylum there.

While the “feces” allegation was not the only strike against Assange — he was also accused of meddling in Ecuador’s political affairs to influence the country’s government — but his conduct as a guest at the embassy certainly did not help.

Ecuador’s Interior Minister María Paula Romo said the country’s previous administration, run by former President Rafael Correa, “tolerated things like Assange putting feces on the embassy walls and other behaviors far from the minimum respect that a guest can have.”

During a press conference on why Ecuador finally turned Assange over to authorities, Romo also explained, “For several years now, one of the key members of the WikiLeaks organization and a person close to Assange has lived in Ecuador.”

Ricardo Patiño, Ecuador’s former chancellor under the Correa regime, was an Assange defender, and Romo claimed a WikiLeaks staffer “works closely and has traveled with Ricardo Patiño to Peru, Spain, and Russia.”

“We are not going to allow Ecuador to become a hacking center and we cannot allow illegal activities to take place in the country in order to harm citizens or other governments,” Romo said, after pointing out that Ecuador also suspects two Russian hackers to be involved in the influence campaign on their country.

Since 2012, Ecuador has watched over Assange and allowed him to hide out in their London embassy after facing an arrest warrant for sexual assault allegations. The warrant has since been dropped, but Assange is now in police custody in London for skipping bail.

[image via Jack Taylor/Getty Images]