Ecuador's ex-president Rafael Correa requests asylum in Belgium
Source: Agence France-Presse
Ecuador's ex-president Rafael Correa requests asylum in Belgium
AFP in Brussels
Thu 8 Nov 2018 18.04 GMT
Ecuadors former president Rafael Correa, who is wanted in his homeland on suspicion of kidnapping, has requested political asylum in Belgium, two well-placed sources told AFP.
Correa has lived near Brussels with his family since 2017, and requested asylum on 25 June this year. The request has been under consideration since August by Belgiums CGRA refugee agency, one source said.
A leftwing former economist, Correa was president of his Andean nation between 2007 and 2017. On Wednesday, an Ecuadoran judge demanded he return home to face charges related to the 2012 kidnapping of an opponent.
Correa insists he is innocent, and on Thursday in an interview with AFP he accused the new authorities in his homeland of political persecution, and his successor Lenín Moreno of a plot against him.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/nov/08/rafael-correa-ecuador-ex-president-asylum-belgium