The authorities of Ecuador have deprived Julian Assange of asylum in the London embassy. The founder of WikiLeaks is detained by the British police, and this has already been called the biggest betrayal in the history of Ecuador. Why is Assange being avenged and what awaits him?
Julian Assange, a programmer and journalist from Australia, became widely known after the website WikiLeaks, founded by him, published secret documents of the US State Department, as well as materials related to military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2010.
But it was quite difficult to find out who the policemen, supporting by the arms, were taking out of the building. Assange grew a beard and did not look at all like the energetic man that he had so far presented in photographs.
According to Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno, Assange's asylum was denied because of his repeated violations of international conventions.
He is expected to remain at a police station in central London until he appears before Westminster Magistrates' Court.
Why the President of Ecuador is accused of betrayal
Former President of Ecuador Rafael Correa called the decision of the current government the biggest betrayal in the history of the country. "What he (Moreno. - Approx. ed.) did is a crime that humanity will never forget," Correa said.
London, on the contrary, thanked Moreno. The British Foreign Office believes that justice has prevailed. The representative of the Russian diplomatic department, Maria Zakharova, has a different opinion. "The hand of 'democracy' is squeezing the throat of freedom," she said. The Kremlin expressed the hope that the rights of the arrested person would be respected.
Ecuador harbored Assange because the former president was center-left, critical of US policy, and welcomed WikiLeaks' release of classified documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Even before the Internet activist needed asylum, he managed to get to know Correa personally: he interviewed him for the Russia Today channel.
However, in 2017, the government in Ecuador changed, the country headed for rapprochement with the United States. The new president called Assange "a stone in the shoe" and immediately made it clear that his stay on the territory of the embassy would not be delayed.
According to Correa, the moment of truth came at the end of June last year, when US Vice President Michael Pence arrived in Ecuador on a visit. Then everything was decided. "You can be sure: Lenin is just a hypocrite. He has already agreed with the Americans about the fate of Assange. And now he is trying to make us swallow the pill, saying that Ecuador allegedly continues the dialogue," Correa said in an interview with Russia Today.
How Assange made new enemies
The day before his arrest, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristin Hrafnsson said that Assange was under total surveillance. "WikiLeaks uncovered a massive spy operation against Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy," he said. According to him, cameras and voice recorders were placed around Assange, and the information received was transmitted to the administration of Donald Trump.
Hrafnsson specified that Assange was going to be expelled from the embassy a week earlier. This did not happen only because WikiLeaks made this information public. A high-ranking source told the portal about the plans of the Ecuadorian authorities, but the head of the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry, Jose Valencia, denied the rumors.
Assange's expulsion was preceded by a corruption scandal involving Moreno. In February, WikiLeaks published the INA Papers package, which traced the operations of the offshore company INA Investment, founded by the brother of the Ecuadorian leader. In Quito, they said that this was a plot by Assange with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and former head of Ecuador Rafael Correa to overthrow Moreno.
In early April, Moreno complained about Assange's behavior in Ecuador's London mission. “We have to protect the life of Mr. Assange, but he has already crossed all the lines in terms of violating the agreement that we reached with him,” the president said. “This does not mean that he cannot speak freely, but he cannot lie and hack ". At the same time, back in February last year, it became known that Assange at the embassy was deprived of the opportunity to interact with the outside world, in particular, he was turned off access to the Internet.
Why Sweden stopped persecuting Assange
At the end of last year, Western media, citing sources, reported that Assange would be charged in the United States. This was never officially confirmed, but it was precisely because of Washington's position that Assange had to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy six years ago.
Sweden, in May 2017, stopped investigating two cases of rape in which the founder of the portal was accused. Assange demanded compensation from the country's government for legal costs in the amount of 900,000 euros.
Earlier, in 2015, Swedish prosecutors also dropped three charges against him due to the statute of limitations.
Where did the rape investigation lead?
Assange arrived in Sweden in the summer of 2010, hoping to get protection from US authorities. But he was under investigation for rape. In November 2010, a warrant for his arrest was issued in Stockholm, and Assange was put on the international wanted list. He was detained in London, but was soon released on bail of 240 thousand pounds.
In February 2011, a British court ruled to extradite Assange to Sweden, followed by a series of successful appeals for the founder of WikiLeaks.
The British authorities placed him under house arrest before deciding to extradite him to Sweden. Breaking his promise to the authorities, Assange asked for asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, which was granted to him. Since then, the UK has had its own grievances against the founder of WikiLeaks.
What's next for Assange?
The man was re-arrested following a U.S. extradition request for publishing classified documents, police said. At the same time, Deputy Foreign Minister Alan Duncan said that Assange would not be sent to the United States if he faced the death penalty there.
In the UK, Assange is likely to appear in court on the afternoon of 11 April. This is stated on the WikiLeaks Twitter page. It is likely that the British authorities will seek a maximum sentence of 12 months, the man's mother said, citing his lawyer.
At the same time, the Swedish prosecutor's office is considering reopening the investigation into the rape allegation. Lawyer Elizabeth Massey Fritz, who represented the interests of the victim, will seek this.
Yesterday, December 6, it became known that the Moscow City Court released Erik Kituashvili, better known as Erik Davidich, who was accused of fraud. He has spent the last two years in custody. tells who Eric Davidovich is and what he is famous for.
Who is Erik Davidovich and what is he known for?
Eric Davidovich Kituashvili is a famous blogger and street racer. He gained fame in 2009, when he founded the website Smotra.ru and at the same time began blogging on YouTube.
Biography of Eric Davidich
According to the Wikireality website, Eric Davidovich was born either in Tbilisi or Moscow in 1981. In 1998, he graduated from school number 265 in Moscow, after which he joined the army. Eric's father served in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. During the service of Eric, his father left the authorities and went into the automotive business: repairing and maintaining luxury cars, as well as selling and installing alarms on them.
When Davidich returned from service, he also plunged into the automotive world: he was engaged in the sale, repair, tuning of cars. He quickly made acquaintances among the owners of expensive cars.
In 2008, Davidich participated in a project for motorists. After that, the site Smotra.ru was opened.
The hallmark of Eric Davidovich is the golden BMW X5M.
Davidich on the hunt
One of the popular sections of the site Smotra.ru was "Davidych on the Hunt", where the author of the project posted scandalous videos with the participation of traffic police officers.
In the sixth part of the issue, Kituashvili captured on video how a traffic police officer asks for a bribe - a thousand rubles. Realizing that he was being filmed, the policeman quickly got into the car, turned on the siren and tried to escape. At the same time, he violated the rules of the road in every possible way - he drove through a red light, crossed a double continuous lane. The blogger set off in pursuit, but the traffic police car managed to get to the police department first and disappeared behind the fence. A few days after the publication of the record, the Investigative Committee joined the check.
Why was Eric Daviditch convicted?
According to investigators, the blogger staged the theft of four luxury cars - Lexus, Mercedes and BMW, receiving insurance payments for them. He is also charged with the legalization of these funds. The total damage is about 10 million rubles.
While Erik Davidich was under arrest, two more charges were added: an attempt on the life of the President of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, in 2009 and slander of traffic police officers.
In May 2017, it became known that the North Caucasus District Military Court, at the request of Davidich's lawyers, replied that all possible persons involved had already been convicted of the attempt on the head of Ingushetia.
What is the position of Erik Davidich's defense?
According to Eric's supporters, he is being persecuted for the fact that Davidich repeatedly disclosed in his videos the facts of giving and receiving bribes by police officers, including his statements that the heads of a number of departments of the capital's police department allegedly bribed the head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the city of Moscow for appointments to their positions. Davidich's defense indicates that at the time when the main episode is imputed to him, he has a complete alibi: he was abroad, which is confirmed by marks in his old passport, air tickets and an extract from the hotel.
I welcome guests and regular readers of the site site. So, street racer, automotive blogger Eric Davidovich(Kituashvili) first saw the light on July 8, 1981 in the capital of Russia - Moscow.
At the age of seven, he went to a local school. It is worth noting that discipline was not Eric's main feature, so his parents were often called in for a conversation. The young man was not a capable student either - he studied for triples.
By his own admission, he began to work at the age of 14 and tried himself in a huge number of activities. After receiving a secondary education, the young man goes into the army.
After the service, Kituashvili was able to devote himself entirely to his passion - cars.
In 2008, Davidich created the smotra.ru resource dedicated to automotive topics. Eric became widely known for his YouTube channel "smotraTV", which became popular thanks to test drives of expensive cars, the projects "Davidych on the Hunt" and "Fragments of Memory". The guy is also known as the organizer and participant of Moscow street races.
Test drive from Davidich No. 6: Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder (2012)
Davidich on the Hunt: Part #6 (2013)
Eric became famous for his controversial projects and behavior. Within a few years, almost every motorist sitting on YouTube knew about Davidich.
Test Drive from Davidich G63 AMG (2014)
Davidich on the Hunt: Season 2 (Part 2) - 2016
In early 2016, a man was placed in a pre-trial detention center on charges of financial fraud.
Last summer was a busy one in terms of internet scandals. Traditionally, representatives of the Russian political system or individuals indirectly associated with it have become the objects of the sensation. And this, unfortunately, is not an unfortunate accident. After all, the fracture of society from top to bottom is more and more noticeable, drawing the line between adequate people and, excuse me, the rabble, on which for some reason our state relies. In the near future in Russia this difference will be a defining aspect in all social processes.
Internet resistance
The blogosphere is a kind of litmus test that replaces civil society, reflecting the attitude towards certain processes or individuals. Therefore, we will pay our attention to one person who was ganged up on by Runet bloggers. In this article we will tell you who Eric Davidovich is. Than he deserved special attention to his not particularly outstanding personality. We will also tell about representatives of the Russian state like him. So...
Who is Eric Davidovich?
In September last year, the site, popularly referred to as "Smotra", received its portion of slops. This portal, as the "viewers" position themselves, is aimed at the owners of cool "basins" and those who simply envy them. Its founder and sole director is Erik Davidovich Kituashvili. The biography of this character has managed to acquire myths and conjectures, the author of which, for the most part, is Davidovich himself. He calls himself a showman, street racer and businessman. His friends, like himself, love United Russia, President Putin, fun companies and cool cars. And then one day the representatives of the "Review" at the head of their leader decided to hold a motor rally through the cities of Russia as a promotion. It is worth noting that in this regard they coped with the task - who Erik Davidovich is, now the entire Runet knows. The question is whether such glory pleases them. But first things first.
Events July 17
Arriving at the hotel "Moya" booked in advance in the city of Samara (about five o'clock in the morning), the company decided to notify all the guests about this. Directly in the hall, they began to laugh loudly, make noise, raise their voices at the administrator Irina, who was on duty at that time. Among the crowd that surrounded the administrator's place was Eric Davidovich, whose biography the girl was unknown (to the deepest surprise of the chief observer), singer Roma Zhigan, and Ruslan Hakobyan. Unfortunately, the names of the rest of the participants in the "performance" are unknown. But as the further development of events showed, today they would not particularly like to be identified. The video demonstrates that an elderly woman, who is in the line of duty, is insulted and even directly threatened by a group of young people. We will not give a detailed text, since the speech of the thugs is richly embellished with obscene expressions. The militia outfit, who arrived at the call of Irina, found out who Erik Davidovich was and, frightened (!), preferred to retire from the scene. After that, the lookouts removed the security car blocking the way from the exit and left the hotel. Video of this enchanting action can also be found on the Internet.
Further developments
It would seem that justice should prevail, and a group of gopniks, having overslept, will apologize to the injured woman. But history took a completely opposite turn. The hotel director personally fired Irina, forcing her to apologize to the boor. You already know the further development of events - the video from that night hit the Internet, raising a wave of indignation. At the moment, a lawsuit against a company of Moscow thugs is being considered. And a tacit war was declared in society against the so-called descendants of P. P. Sharikov. For with the collapse of the USSR, they did not eliminate themselves.
The other day, Davidich, a well-known online blogger, was put under arrest. According to him, he was caught by the hand more than 300 traffic police officers who boldly took bribes. He posted revealing videos about the top traffic police on the network, one of the last topics covered in the video was the purchase of a position by the head of the Moscow traffic police for a large sum. Kituashvili enjoys wide support from motorists. So why was the blogger arrested: revenge or did he really deserve punishment?
Who is Eric Daviditch?
Eric Davidovich Kituashvili was born on July 8, 1981 in Moscow. A 34-year-old man has a scandalous character, reckless actions. He is self-confident, outrageous and bold, not afraid of the police. Eric is well known in the narrow circles of golden youth.
He says the following about himself: “I do not break the law except for traffic rules. BMW fan. I am ready to defend my position to the end. I understand that in our country power is in money and power. I do charity work and help orphanages.
Mini-oligarch, professional street racer, founder of the portal of riders, an online community managed to gather all the riders in one place. He is the owner of the site Smotra.ru, maintains a video blog where he shares experiments and observations in the world of cars. His youtube channel has over 1,000,000 subscribers.
The people remembered for their "Golden BMW" and the identification of corruption ties between the traffic police and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. He posted revealing videos about the work of police officers filmed on.
Scandal in the Samara hotel
In one of the hotels in the city of Samara, a scandal involving a famous Moscow street racer was filmed. And interestingly, the quarrel began due to the fact that the administrator of the institution did not recognize the “popular personality”. This circumstance so outraged the company in the hall that they began not only to insult the middle-aged woman, but to threaten with reprisal. Later, Eric and his comrades retired from the hotel.
It would seem that the outcome of the story should have been an apology from the brawlers, however, repentance did not happen. In addition, an innocent woman was fired from her job. 
The arrest of the famous video blogger of the owner of the show.ru
Erik Davidovich was sentenced to two months' arrest. The detention will last at least until April 20 this year. Such a decision was issued by the Tverskoy Court in Moscow.
Erik Davidich has been charged with fraud on an especially large scale. The lawyer of the person involved in the case said that he did not admit the guilt of his ward. Sergey Zhorin believes that the case against Eric was fabricated due to the publication of an investigation film about corruption in the traffic police and car theft. The film consists of three parts and on the eve of the publication of the last, the blogger was taken into custody.
The criminal case relates to a 2008 car insurance trial. In addition, the founder of Smotra.ru was suspected of involvement in the attempt on the life of the head of Ingushetia, which his fans consider a completely surprising circumstance.
Kituashvili said at the trial that he understood perfectly well what the outcome of his getting involved in this corruption story could be. But he cannot put up with this state of affairs in the country, when the authorities make money on public roads, our lives, and despite the mortal danger, he will continue to spread information.
Eric's associates believe that his detention and arrest are related to the investigations he is conducting. They express bewilderment and call for a fair trial. There were more than 200 people near the courthouse who believed in the blogger's honesty and innocence.
What is Erik Davidovich accused of?
According to investigators, the crime occurred in 2008. The accused, together with accomplices (persons not identified), allegedly staged the theft of an expensive vehicle. Then he submitted to the insurance company, of course, deliberately false documents. As a result of the proceedings, a large amount of money was transferred to the account of the deceivers, as a result of which the company suffered large losses. The Ministry of Internal Affairs believes that Kituashvili may be involved in the commission of 10 such frauds.
The situation at the court
Supporters of the founder of smotra.ru and his lawyers suspect that the investigators have no evidence of his guilt, and this is due to the strange behavior of the court. Access to the court was restricted and no one was allowed to attend the hearing. They took a non-disclosure agreement from the lawyers, which once again casts doubt on the veracity of the accusations. Kituashvili was detained on the same day that an application was filed against him, although he did not intend to hide. But nevertheless, law enforcement agencies carried out a whole special operation to detain him.
The lawyers at the meeting insisted on house arrest and offered 10,000,000 rubles as a pledge. They drew attention to the fact that the testimony of the main witness was questionable, but the court rejected their petitions. And even Eric's assurances of his law-abidingness could not improve the situation, and he was not released from custody.
The opinion and actions of the lawyers of the famous street racer
The street racer's defense is trying to get a decision to cancel the arrest of the ward, because he believes that the court simply does not have evidence of his guilt. Zhorin appealed against the arrest of Davidich, but he cannot name the grounds because he gave a receipt in court on non-disclosure of the case materials. The lawyer believes that if everything is fair, the well-known blogger should be released from custody.
When asked about the readiness for defense, the lawyer says that he was not even going to prepare for it. He believes that now it is inexpedient, since the main task of the police was to arrest Davidich, and on what grounds it is not so important. Moreover, Ingosstrakh, from where the statement to the police allegedly came from, refutes this information.
The vice president of the company said: “A week ago we went to the police with allegations of fraud, but not against this person. This is a common practice in our organization. When fraud is suspected, the security service provides information to law enforcement for verification.
Lawyers and the accused himself believe that the case is fabricated and is the revenge of law enforcement agencies. Last year, the blogger posted two revealing films about the police. In them, he talks about the corruption and lawlessness that is happening at the top of the traffic police. And a few days before the arrest, he announced the release of the third part of the investigation.
Zhorin visited Davidich in the pre-trial detention center. According to the lawyer, the blogger is cheerful and determined to go to the end. One of the issues they discussed was the third film. Kituashvili said to publish the film even though he is in custody. The lawyer also promised that in the near future the revealing series will be freely available on the network and it will be a “bomb”.
What do people say about the situation with the arrest of Erik Davidovich?
Supporters of the blogger hope that justice will prevail. In their opinion, Davidich does good, helps drivers and protects the country from lawlessness. And although his character is imperfect, he does his job for the benefit of ordinary drivers, proving that they also have their rights and traffic police officers - this is not the ultimate truth.
But there are those who consider the blogger an ordinary "cattle", and everything that is happening around him is nothing more than just promotion, raising the rating. People are perplexed where a simple kid has so much money, because his parents are not oligarchs either. There are suggestions that Eric has a rich and influential patron, who provided him with a "golden car" and continues to pay for all his actions.
Whether Davidich does good or evil, they will be dealt with in court, and supporters can only hope for the honesty and incorruptibility of law enforcement agencies. Lawyers are trying to secure his release from arrest and prove that the case has no evidence, but is only the traffic police's response to the blogger's exposing films.
Latest news about the arrest of Erik Davidovich
Eric's arrest sparked outrage on social media. On February 22, 2016, Kituashvili's followers posted a petition on the Internet asking the President of Russia to immediately release the detainee. The online document was signed within 6 hours by 30,000 users outraged by the event. The measure of restraint imposed by the court in the form of detention did not suit the side of the accused person, and on February 24 his lawyers appealed against the decision. Consideration of the complaint filed by Sergei Zhorin is scheduled for March 16.
Criminal case against Eric's followers for threatening "murder"
The furious outrage of Kituashvili's fans spilled over into the online space, where they began to create web pages used to post threats against journalists filming revealing stories. Immediate threats were made to Maxim Makin - netizens described him as a rat. Taking into account the aggressive nature and personalization of statements, the investigators decided to open a criminal case, qualifying the actions of individuals as a threat of deprivation of life or causing harm to health. Criminal proceedings were opened on March 15 at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moscow.
Death threats in the pre-trial detention center - Eric settles in "Matrosskaya Tishina"
A day later, on March 16, 2016, on the day of the consideration of the appeal regarding the illegal detention of Erik Davidovich in a pre-trial detention center, the detainee's lawyer disseminated information about the psychological pressure exerted on his client in the Matrosskaya Tishina pre-trial detention center.
Mr. Zhorin announced the content of his ward in a building inhabited by prisoners with HIV and tuberculosis. Kituashvili is in the same cell with the killers and receives threats of physical violence. There are facts of extortion of money under the threat of violence. Eric was placed in a four-bed cell with murderers, car thieves and drug addicts. The client of the lawyer Zhorin needed visits from a psychologist, a medical record was drawn up for him, in which they made a note about suicidal tendencies.
The human rights activist is preparing a statement to the prosecutor's office with a complaint about Eric's inappropriate content, which is contrary to the law. The detained citizen is forbidden to stay in the cell on his own, transferring to the place of detention of other prisoners during the walks of his neighbors. The Moscow City Court, having considered the appeal of Kituashvili's defense on March 16, decided to leave unchanged the measure of restraint chosen by the Tverskoy Court in the form of detention. Now Erik Davidovich will be guaranteed to be held in a pre-trial detention center until 04/20/2016.
A day later, on March 17, lawyer Sergei Zhorin, suspected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of disclosing investigative secrets, was already charged. A pre-investigation check has been appointed with the possible initiation of a criminal case under Art. 310 of the Criminal Code of Russia. The lawyer insists on his innocence and assures that he disseminated data that had been widely publicized before him.
Human rights activists took Kituashvili under round-the-clock surveillance
The death threats against Kituashvili did not go unnoticed by his supporters, who have established monitoring of the content of the blogger since March 20, taking him under protection through round-the-clock video surveillance. The Metropolitan Observatory Public Commission (ONC) came with a check to the pre-trial detention center where Eric is being held. The activists insisted on transferring the founder of Smotra.ru to a cell in a special block equipped with a video surveillance system. Here he is kept with three cellmates who are accused of a crime on less serious charges than the previous neighbors.
There are no more claims to the content, but human rights activists are concerned about the health of Eric, who looks depressed, answers questions in monosyllables, sometimes content with nods and gestures. Here there is no opportunity to take medicines prescribed by a doctor, and the environment in the pre-trial detention center has a depressing effect. Kituashvili's internal state is complicated by the impossibility of contacting a seriously ill mother, for whom there is no one to take care of except him. The Matrosskaya Tishina detention center is not equipped with telephones required by law.
Erik Davidovich's common-law wife arrested
The police launched an active operation, detaining Eric's girlfriend, Anna Kaganskaya, on March 24. The citizen is accused in the case of 2011, she is charged with fraud on an especially large scale. The investigation accuses Anna of staging a vehicle theft and illegally receiving 3,000,000 rubles from an insurance company.
The investigator's petition for arrest was considered in the Tverskoy Court, where lawyer Zhorin, at a meeting, handed over Kituashvili's suicide notes to Kaganskaya, compiled by him after receiving death threats in the pre-trial detention center. Eric's common-law wife, during interrogation by investigators, refused to testify against the detained blogger. The woman said that she did not want to become a traitor, besides, she simply had nothing to say to the investigation.
Anna was offered a deal, promising to let her go if she shared compromising evidence. Now Kaganskaya is being held in a pre-trial detention center under normal conditions, but she does not feel well, due to actively developing eczema. Searches at the place of residence of the common-law wife of Kituashvili revealed the presence of documents of interest to the investigation.
Formal charges filed
On April 1, employees of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moscow formally charged Eric Kituashvili with embezzlement of funds on an especially large scale as part of a criminal group. The accused, according to investigators, together with accomplices staged the theft of three vehicles:
BMW M5L;
Lexus LS430;
Mercedes SL 55 AMG.
Presenting false documents to the insurer, the criminals demanded compensation from the companies, which was later transferred to their accounts in Moscow banks. The charge was brought under article 159.5 part 4 of the Criminal Code of Russia - insurance fraud. The total damage from illegal actions amounted to 7,000,000 rubles. Anna Kaganskaya was charged under an identical article on the same day.
