The British judge upheld arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has spent over five years at the London Embassy of Ecuador, AP reported.

 Judge Emma Arbuthnot said “arrest is a proportionate response” to Assange's actions.

Julian Assange lives in the embassy building since 2012 to avoid arrest on charges of rape in Sweden. He fears that, if he leaves, he will be extradited to the United States over WikiLeaks' publication of leaked secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010.

Swedish prosecutors stopped the investigation in May 2017. However, he can still be arrested by the British police for violating the terms of his release on bail in 2012.