Ecuador's president accused of betraying Assange

Brussels,

Former Ecuadoran leader Rafael Correa on Thursday accused President Lenin Moreno of allowing the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as an act of "personal vengeance."

In an interview with AFP, the exile accused his successor of having betrayed Assange to British authorities after WikiLeaks published documents alleging corruption in his family.   

"It's something incredible, without precedent," Correa said, alleging that WikiLeaks' allegations had triggered the arrest but that Moreno had also been acting under US influence.

In April, Moreno's office had denounced the corruption claims as "baseless and insulting rumours" and alleged his predecessor's camp was behind a campaign of vilification.  

Earlier, after British police entered the Ecuadorian embassy in London and arrested Assange, Correa took to Twitter to bait Correa.

"The greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history, Lenin Moreno, allowed British police to enter our embassy in London to arrest Assange," Correa wrote.

"Moreno is a corrupt man, but what he has done is a crime that humanity will never forget," added Correa, who granted Assange asylum when he was president in 2012.

The former leader, who nows lives in Belgium, underlined that Assange is "not only an asylum holder, but also an Ecuadorian citizen."

With the arrest, Moreno "has shown the world he is a miserable reprobate," Correa leader said of his former vice president.

A left-wing former economist, Correa was president of his Andean nation between 2007 and 2017, during which Moreno served as his deputy.

Correa has lived near Brussels with his family since 2017 and has requested asylum in Belgium.

He is wanted in his homeland on suspicion of kidnapping in charges that Correa has said are politically motivated.

© Agence France-Presse