Edward Snowden ready to return to the United States if his trial is "fair"

(Washington) Going to the US is "my ultimate goal," but "I want a fair trial," said American whistleblower Edward Snowden in an interview broadcast Monday on CBS on the eve of the release of his memoirs.

Updated on September 16, 2019 at 11:03 am Posted on 16 September 2019 at 10:34

France Media Agency

Refugee in Russia since denouncing the massive surveillance of communications and internet in his country in 2013, this former employee of the US intelligence agency NSA is indicted in the United States for spying and theft of state secrets .

"I would like to go back to the United States, that's my ultimate goal, but I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in jail," he told CBS. "So I have a basic demand that we all have to agree on: that I can have a fair trial. "

"I do not ask for forgiveness" or "right-of-way," he continues, accusing US authorities of providing for "a trial of another type" with "special procedures."

"They do not want the jury to consider the motivations that drove me to act. (…) They only want him to consider whether my actions were legal or illegal, not whether they were right or wrong, "he regrets.

"It's not hard to build a case for saying that I broke the law," Edward Snowden admits. But according to him "this is the least interesting question" and it should be that jurors rather question the consequences of his actions: "Did they benefit the United States or caused harm? "

In the face of this impasse, Edward Snowden sought asylum in some 20 countries, including Germany and France, which refused him for various reasons. "We'll see how they handle the reactions to my new book," he slips.

His memoirs, published simultaneously in twenty countries, including the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil or Taiwan, will be released Tuesday.

Written entirely by Edward Snowden himself, the book is published in the United States by Metropolitan Books (Macmillan) under the title Permanent record. French version entitled RAM published by the Editions du Seuil.