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MONTEVIDEO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th June, 2019) A court in Ecuador has launched an investigation into supposed spying activities by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Swedish national Ola Bini, suspected of having ties with the whistleblowing platform, lawyer Carlos Poveda told Sputnik.

Bini was detained in the wake of the arrest of Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on April 11. Ecuador's Interior Minister Maria Paula Romo reportedly said Bini had visited the embassy over 10 times.

"Yesterday, we have received notification as part of the Ola Bini case. The court ruling says that there is an additional probe into the involvement of Assange and Bini in espionage in Ecuador. They say that they have found alleged ties between these two figures in their computers," Poveda said on Friday.

Assange was arrested in April and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping his bail back in 2012, when he took refuge inside the Ecuadorian embassy in the UK capital to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced sexual assault charges, and possible subsequent extradition to the United States.

Washington initially charged Assange with conspiring to carry out a computer offense. However, the US Justice Department subsequently extended the charges so the whistleblower may now face up to 175 years in prison.

Earlier this week, UK Home Secretary Sajid Javid said that he had signed an extradition order for Assange to face charges in the United States. The whistleblower has feared the extradition, suggesting he might be put on death row in the United States.

On Friday, the Westminster Magistrates' Court in London said that a full hearing on the case of Assange's extradition to the United States would be held in February. The trial will last for five days and will be preceded by several technical hearing.