Assange ally Ola Bini charged in Ecuador following airport arrest
Ecuador on Saturday revealed criminal hacking charges against Ola Bini, a computer programmer with ties to recently arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
“The State Prosecutor General’s Office filed charges against a Swedish citizen, aged 36, for his alleged participation in the crime of assault on the integrity of computer systems,” the agency said in a statement.
The announcement did not mention Mr. Bini by name, but it followed reports that he was ordered held for investigative purposes after being detained at a Quito airport Thursday within hours of Ecuador ejecting Mr. Assange from its London embassy.
“It’s up to the justice system to determine if he committed a crime,” Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo told Ecuadorian media Friday. “But we can’t allow Ecuador to become a center for piracy and spying. That period in our history is over.”
Mr. Bini had visited the WikiLeaks publisher at the embassy roughly a dozen times during the last few years, claimed Ms. Romo. She said that he was close to Mr. Assange and that Ecuador had “sufficient evidence that he was collaborating in attempts to destabilize the government.”
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/apr/13/julian-assange-ally-ola-bini-charged-in-ecuador-fo/