Quito, July 27 (RHC)-- The Contentious Administrative Court determined to withdraw the Ecuadorian nationality granted to the founder of the WikiLeaks website, Julian Assange, who is in a prison in the United Kingdom.

Attorney Carlos Poveda told reporters: "The judges of the Contentious Administrative Court accepted the criteria of the Foreign Ministry and declared the nullity of the naturalization letter that had been granted to Julian Assange." 

Poveda, who serves as the Australian journalist's defense attorney, said that the court adopted the determination last week, however, it was officially notified to the defense team on Monday.

The legal expert affirmed that he will file an appeal to the resolution that affects his client, who was naturalized Ecuadorian in 2017, during the Government of Lenin Moreno (2017-2021).

The same Ecuadorian government began in 2020 a legal process to withdraw Assange's nationality, alleging alleged irregularities during its granting.

Assange, who remained in asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London from 2012 to 2019, is in a British prison.

In the United States, the journalist is accused of espionage charges after he published in WikiLeaks secret official documents on U.S. actions in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.