Russia to reply to US letter on Snowden


Moscow, July 28 (IANS): Russia is preparing a reply to the US attorney general's letter over the return of fugitive intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden, the Russian justice ministry said Sunday.

The ministry said it received the letter from Eric Holder July 24, Xinhua reported.

However, it did not specify the nature of the reply and the exact date it would be ready.

Holder assured his Russian counterpart Alexander Konovalov that "the US would not seek the death penalty even if Snowden were charged with additional, death penalty-eligible crimes".

His letter came amid media reports that Snowden had applied for political asylum in Russia on the grounds that if he were returned to the US, he would be tortured and would face the death penalty.

The top US lawyer said these claims were "entirely without merit. Torture is unlawful in the US".

He said Snowden was able to travel though his passport had been revoked. "He is eligible for a limited validity passport good for direct return to the US".

The 30-year-old former CIA contractor arrived at Moscow's Sheremetyevo international airport June 23 and has reportedly been stranded in the transit zone. He faces espionage charges as he disclosed a classified intelligence surveillance project code-named PRISM.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier said Russia would not hand Snowden over to the US.

  

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Comment on this article

  • wavettore, Italy

    Mon, Jul 29 2013

    How could the classified information be protected for the safety of one Country and also made sure that the citizens of that same Country are not the target of that top secret, like in the 9/11 false flag attack for example?
    Should State secrets exist?
    If State secrets were to be eliminated only in a certain Country how could this Country then protect itself? For example, if the United States were to divulge every secret then how could they do it without the risk of remaining victims of their same disclosed secrets?
    Is it possible to balance the power between secret State Agencies and the right to know of every citizen?
    Secret State Agencies have always been the stations to enroll new "initiated" and are still today the alcoves where the darkest ideas have been plotted in the name of a “Greater Good”.

    To accept that such relevant secrecy is reserved for only a few individuals is to also accept that non governmental secret societies will continue to flourish behind closed doors and advance their agenda while they remain well hidden from the eye of the unaware citizen. Any head of secret service should never become president of the same Country, like in the cases of Bush or Putin.

    To know everything about everyone is a weapon like no others and that is also the shortest course for a Democracy to be turned into a Dictatorship. The secret State Agencies will be those to pave the way for a New World Order.

    The current system of government seems to offer no other alternative. And from here is the need for a total renewal in the concept of government.

    http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Commutalism

    http://www.wavevolution.org/en/freethinking.html

    DisAgree Agree [1] Reply Report Abuse


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Title: Russia to reply to US letter on Snowden



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