Snowden ready to talk with German officials
Print Edition
Germany’s top security official yesterday said he will try and find a way for Edward Snowden to speak to German officials if the former National Security Agency contractor is willing to provide details about the NSA’s activities, including the alleged surveillance of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s cellphone.
The comments by Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich came after a German opposition lawmaker traveled to Moscow and met NSA leaker Snowden. The lawmaker, Hans-Christian Stroebele, returned to Berlin with a letter from Snowden, which he released yesterday.
In the letter Snowden, who faces espionage charges in the United States, indicated that he will not speak with German officials until the US stops its prosecution of leakers like him.
“Though the outcome of my efforts has been demonstrably positive, my government continues to treat dissent as defection, and seeks to criminalize political speech with felony charges that provide no defense,” Snowden wrote in the letter. “I am confident that with the support of the international community, the government of the United States will abandon this harmful behavior.”
“I look forward to speaking with you in your country when the situation is resolved, and thank you for your efforts in upholding the international laws that protect us all,” he said.
Stroebele is a prominent critic of the NSA’s alleged activities.
The release of the letter came after Friedrich said: “If the message is that Mr Snowden wants to give us information, then we will be glad to accept that.”
Friedrich’s spokesman Jens Teschke confirmed the comments, saying: “We want clarification and we want further information.”
He added, however, that he understood Friedrich to be referring primarily to the possibility of officials speaking to Snowden in Russia, where he has been granted asylum.
In Moscow, Snowden’s lawyer said yesterday that the intelligence leaker is ready to talk to German prosecutors in Russia.
Snowden will not be able to leave Russia to be questioned by German prosecutors in the spying probe but can provide testimony inside the country, lawyer Anatoly Kucherena told Echo Moscow radio.
“Snowden will not go to Germany. This is not possible because he has no right to cross Russian borders,” he said.
Germany is seeking answers from US authorities to allegations Merkel’s cellphone was monitored, which prompted the German chancellor to complain to US President Barack Obama last week.
Germany’s government, along with many others, rejected an asylum request from Snowden earlier this year. Teschke said that, if Snowden now wanted asylum, he will have to come to Germany and apply for it — but noted that Germany has an extradition treaty with the US.
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