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The Globe and Mail reports that Edward Snowden's Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena says the fugitive former US spy agency contractor who leaked details of the government’s mass surveillance programs was working with American and German lawyers to return home. “I won’t keep it secret that he … wants to return back home. And we are doing everything possible now to solve this issue. There is a group of U.S. lawyers, there is also a group of German lawyers and I’m dealing with it on the Russian side.” Kucherena added that Snowden is ready to return to the States, but on the condition that he is given a guarantee of a legal and impartial trial. The lawyer said Snowden had so far only received a guarantee from the US Attorney General that he will not face the death penalty. Kucherena says that Snowden is able to travel outside Russia since he has a three-year Russian residency permit, but "I suspect that as soon as he leaves Russia, he will be taken to the US embassy."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday March 04 2015, @04:16PM
I wonder if there's any place in the country we (as in, we the people, as opposed to we the 1% or we the corporations) could get him elected to office and maybe get some kind of legal immunity.
Wouldn't he make an awesome NSA director, or CIA director, or something like that?
(Score: 2) by MrGuy on Wednesday March 04 2015, @04:42PM
I don't see it. There's no immunity from prosecution in the United States that comes from the mere fact of holding elective office. Certainly not immunity from actions that were performed as a private citizen prior to election.
In some jurisdictions, it might be possible that it's not OK to bring legal action against individuals based on how they performed the duties of that office (i.e. they're not privately liable for actions taken on behalf of the public). But that wouldn't apply - Snowden didn't hold any elective office at the time of the disclosures, and certainly not one where his official duties included releasing classified information.
In SOME cases, courts will grant a stay of certain actions against elected officials while in office due to public interest of not having the official distracted (e.g. a private legal action against the president of the United States might be stayed temporarily). However, the Clinton scandals show us that even that has some significant limits.
A better option might be to be granted citizenship outside the US, renounce US citizenship, and be permitted to return to the US as a foreign diplomat (e.g. as an advisor to the Ecuadorian permanent mission to the UN) with diplomatic immunity. However, that route grants the US the right to expel him (which would probably be exercised).
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 04 2015, @10:45PM
Just imagine the trove of info he'd have available to give away to foreign nations. And, he'd be cutting out the middle-man thus making it a much more streamline process. A modern day Henry Stimson!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 05 2015, @03:32AM
It appears you are referencing the opinion of the Secretary of War that the technology behind the atomic bomb should be shared with the Soviet Union.
This would have been a disincentive for the USA to once again murder tens of thousands of children in a single act.
One might call Secretary Stimson the only sane and moral man in DC.
-- gewg_
(Score: 5, Interesting) by wantkitteh on Thursday March 05 2015, @02:20AM
Maybe Russia could make him a diplomat.
(Score: 3, Informative) by gnuman on Thursday March 05 2015, @07:21AM
Presidential pardon would give him "immunity". But that will not happen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_pardoned_or_granted_clemency_by_the_President_of_the_United_States [wikipedia.org]
His only hope is for trial in absentia and then a pardon a decade later, maybe. With current climate of spying and mistrust of general public, and people liking it this way, stay the heck away.