The Ecuadorian Court has thrown out an extradition request for a former police investigator from Belarus and ordered he be freed immediately. Judge Carlos Ramirez of the National Court of Justice denied grounds for the extradition of 30 year old Aliaksandr Barankov and ratified his status as a political refugee.

Barankov was originally imprisoned on 7^th June on charges of fraud and extortion. He originally arrived in Ecuador in 2009 after fleeing the country upon uncovering an oil smuggling ring involving high ranking government officials. The 30-year old was working in a police research organisation dedicated to prosecuting financial crimes when he uncovered the corruption. The government is accusing him of illicitly receiving money from the oil company, Total Oil.

Berankov says he could be killed if sent back to Belarus as president Alexander Lukashenko is implicated in the scandal.

He blames his imprisonment in June to pressure from Belarus before an official visit later that month by Lukashenko, who is reputedly responsible for the fixing of elections, imprisonment of dissidents, and censorship of free speech.

This is the second time Ecuador has defended calls for his extradition. The Belarusian government applied for the first time in October 2011 but the National Court denied it on the grounds that the documents provided did not prove any evidence of wrongdoing.

The news was announced today by Berankov’s lawyer, Fernando Lara. “We’re pleased,” he said, “but this decision has come 82 days too late.”

Barankov also spoke to Associated Press from prison, saying “I’m happy! They’ve saved my life!”

The case has come under the spotlight after the granting of asylum to Julian Assange. President Rafael Correa has declined to comment until the court proceedings have been completed.

Ecuador’s request for a foreign ministers’ meeting to discuss the Assange case was approved by the Organisation of American States (OAS), despite opposition from the US. Ecuador also received shows of support from ALBA (Bolivarian Allliance for our America) and Unasur (Union of South American Nations).

The OAS foreign ministers’ meeting will convene in Washington DC on Friday 24th August to ”address the situation between Ecuador and the UK regarding the inviolability of the diplomatic premises of Ecuador in the UK in accordance with international law, and to agree on appropriate measures to be adopted.” The resolution calling for the meeting was passed by 23 votes in favour and 3 against (the US, Canda, and Trinidad and Tobago).

The US have stated that the issue should be solved bilaterally between Ecuador and the UK. Furthermore, the spokesperson for the US Department of State, Victoria Nuland, said in a statement that “the United States is not a party to the 1954 OAS Convention on Diplomatic Asylum and does not recognize the concept of diplomatic asylum as a matter of international law.”

As well as the OAS emergency meeting, ALBA will convene today in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to analyse the steps to follow on the diplomatic row between the Andean country and the UK. Rodolfo Sanz, ALBA’s executive secretary, defended Ecuador’s decision, saying that “the right to asylum is contemplated in the Vienna Convention. That is very clear.” All eight members of the bloc -Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St. Vince and the Grenadines- will meet to discuss Assange’s situation.

Unasur -a political alliance between Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, and Venezuela- will also hold an emergency meeting of foreign ministers in Guayaquil tomorrow. The aim of the meeting will be to discuss “the threats made by the government of the UK against the integrity of the Ecuadorian embassy in London and against Ecuador’s sovereign right to administer its asylum policy.”

The European Union (EU) also stated its position, saying they consider the matter a bilateral issue between Ecuador and the UK and that they “trust that it will be resolved with dialogue and total respect to all applicable European and international laws,” a EU source told Spanish news agency Efe.

The Russian government, in turn, released a statement today warning the UK that entering the Ecuadorian embassy would be a violation of diplomatic principles. In the same statement, they pointed out that London has in the past granted asylum to many alleged criminals wanted by other countries.

WikiLeaks announced yesterday via Twitter that Assange will speak live “in front of the Ecuadorian embassy” in London tomorrow at 2pm BST (1pm GMT). It is unclear whether he will step outside the embassy to make his statement.

Ecuador’s foreign minister today revealed details of a letter that was delivered through the British embassy in Quito, the Andean nation’s capital, regarding the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s current situation as an asylum seeker living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

The letter said: “You need to be aware that there is a legal base in the UK, the Diplomatic and Consular Premises Act 1987, that would allow us to take actions in order to arrest Mr Assange in the current premises of the embassy.

“We need to reiterate that we consider the continued use of the diplomatic premises in this way incompatible with the Vienna convention and unsustainable and we have made clear the serious implications that this has for our diplomatic relations.”

Patiño responded against the perceived threat from the UK to enter the embassy, saying that such a “dangerous precedent” would be met with “appropriate responses in accordance with international law”.

Ecuador has announced that president Rafael Correa will reach a decision on the asylum request on Thursday.