The Ecuadorian government on Friday rejected claims by WikiLeaks that founder Julian Assange would be ousted from his sanctuary at the country’s embassy in London “within hours to days.”
Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released Friday that the allegation was “an attempt to stain the dignity of the country,” according to an NBC News translation.
{mosads}Ecuador “has made significant expenditures to pay for his stay” and has “endured its rudeness,” the ministry continued.
The government said in its statement that Ecuador had filed a complaint with the United Nations over what it said were “illicit publications.”
Officers with London’s metropolitan police department were stationed outside the Ecuadorian Embassy on Friday morning after a Twitter account representing WikiLeaks claimed that Assange would be moved out of the facility within hours or days.
“BREAKING: A high level source within the Ecuadorian state has told @WikiLeaks that Julian Assange will be expelled within ‘hours to days’ using the #INAPapers offshore scandal as a pretext–and that it already has an agreement with the UK for his arrest,” WikiLeaks tweeted Thursday from its verified account.
Law enforcement officers told reporters that they are “obliged to execute that warrant should [Assange] leave the Embassy.”
Assange faces a warrant for his arrest in the United Kingdom, which he has evaded for years by living in the Ecuadorian Embassy.
Assange has come under scrutiny in the U.S. for publishing hacked emails from former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton‘s campaign and the Democratic National Committee in the 2016 election cycle. He dismissed criticism by claiming that he acted as journalists have when they make confidential documents public.