Her protege called the Assange security Spanish security guards internally "the guest" or "El Juli", a shortening of his first name, but also the name of a famous torero. Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who had been stuck in Ecuador's embassy in London for many years, used to go to bed late and get up late. Although he could not leave the embassy, ​​he received plenty of visitors, including Lady Gaga, Yoko Ono and her son Sean Lennon or the fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, who brought him food.

The members of the "bodyguard" always stayed in the background, but obviously got a lot of details. Some of them were now stuck in the Spanish newspaper El País, which reports about it in their Sunday issue. They belonged to a company based in Cádiz, southern Spain, which was directly paid by a secret service in Quito, the capital of Ecuador.

Eccentric behavior

The Spaniards also observed the eccentric behavior of Assange. He gave TV interviews in underpants, he was dressed only from the belt upwards, so the part of his body visible on the screen. He had let himself go and did not flush the toilet after use, the report from "El País" continues.

The embassy staff also interfered with cooking in a small room on an electric stovetop. The long time in the embassy he sometimes expelled himself with skateboarding or ball games in the hallway.

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Julian Assange: The WikiLeaks founder in pictures

Probably the most bizarre anecdote relates to a toilet repair: In 2016, an installer from Valencia, Spain, was specially flown in. The security guards feared that a local plumber could injure the toilet. Cost of the four-day operation: 4000 euros. The deployment of the Spanish security team ended in 2017, when left-leaning President Rafael Correa was replaced by the moderate Lenín Moreno in Quito.

Last week, Ecuador Assange had withdrawn diplomatic protection, whereupon he was arrested by the British police. He is threatened with extradition to the United States.