Julian Assange is concerned not about any proceedings in Sweden as such, but believe that his deportation to Sweden could lead to politically motivated deportation to the United States, where he could face severe penalties, up to the death sentence, for his activities related to WikiLeaks. On 16 August 2012, Foreign Minister Patiño announced that Ecuador was granting Assange political asylum because of the threat represented by the United States secret investigation against him and several calls for assassination from many American politicians. In its formal statement, Ecuador reasoned that "as a consequence of [Assange's] determined defense to freedom of expression and
Julian Assange readers' choice award for person of the year, the "Time" readers' choice award for person of the year (he was also a runner-up in "Time's" overall person of the year award), a deal for his autobiography worth at least US$1.3 million, and selection by the Italian edition of "Rolling Stone" as "rockstar of the year". Assange announced that he would run for the Australian Senate in March 2012 under the new WikiLeaks Party, and "Cypherpunks" was published in November. In 2012, Assange hosted a television show on RT (formerly known as Russia Today), a network funded by the Russian government.