14 DAY TRIAL // The United States is making yet another try to get its hands on Edward Snowden by appealing to the Russian authorities.
According to Reuters, the US has made a formal promise not to execute or torture Edward Snowden if he is sent home to face charges, and it seems that the two countries are in talks over the NSA whistleblower’s fate.
Although it was previously reported that the US made such a promise, the official conjecture was only now revealed. A letter date July 23 and released in the past few days reveals that Attorney General Eric Holder tried to dispel Snowden’s claims that his life is in danger as he sought Russian asylum.
Whether the US will be successful, it remains to be seen. Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson says that the Russian president wants to not let relations with the US suffer over the Snowden case, but took the time to reiterate that Russia “did not hand over, does not hand over and will not hand over anybody.”
While this last statement pretty much indicates the US efforts are in vain, officials quoted by Reuters claim that discussions could be centered around a promise from Snowden to stop leaking documents if he were granted asylum in Russia.
This, of course, has already happened, since Snowden has already handed over all the documents he planned to go public, while others remain in his possession.
It was revealed, a while back, that Glenn Greenwald has several thousand documents in his possession, while Snowden still holds some as assurance.
According to Greenwald, these documents that Snowden is keeping contain information that could harm the United States more than any other published so far. He has promised not to divulge those, however, since that’s not his goal, as he only wants to let the world know of the things the NSA does to violate privacy.
In the event of something happening to Snowden, however, the files are programmed to be sent to several recipients.