Ecuador judge frees Swedish programer close to Assange; probe continues
JUNE 20, 2019 / 8:58 PM / UPDATED 3 HOURS AGO
QUITO (Reuters) - An Ecuadorean judge on Thursday ordered that a Swedish citizen and personal friend of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange be freed, two months after he was detained for alleged participation in a hacking attempt on the government.
But Ola Bini, a 36-year-old software developer who has lived in Ecuador for five years, remains under investigation in the case and will be barred from leaving the country, according to the court ruling.
Bini was detained in April at the Quito airport before boarding a flight to Japan, hours after Ecuador withdrew asylum for Assange, who had lived at its London embassy for almost seven years while facing spying charges related to WikLeaks’ 2010 publication of secret U.S. diplomatic cables.
Ecuador’s Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo had accused him of seeking to destabilize the Andean country’s government and compromising its national security. Bini has denied those allegations, but has acknowledged being close to Assange.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ecuador-wikileaks/ecuador-judge-frees-swedish-programer-close-to-assange-probe-continues-idUSKCN1TM06G?rpc=401&
