Ecuadorean FM to meet British counterpart for Assange case

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said on Monday, June 3 he would meet Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague this month to discuss a possible solution to the year-long diplomatic standoff over WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange.

Assange, 41, took refuge in Ecuador's tiny embassy in London last June to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sex assault and rape allegations. He denies the allegations.

"On June 17, one year after Assange entered the Ecuadorean embassy in London, I will meet again with secretary William Hague in that city," Patino said on his Twitter account.

"We expect the meeting with the secretary ... will lead to a solution in the case of Assange's asylum."

A spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office said earlier it was considering a request made by Patino to meet Hague in London.

"We hope the visit will contribute to our joint commitment to finding a diplomatic solution to this issue," she said.

News of the possible meeting comes as Bradley Manning, the American soldier charged with "aiding the enemy" by providing WikiLeaks with more than 700,000 classified documents, went on trial in the United States on Monday, Reuters reported.