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Snowden Has Always Been 'Ready' to Return to the US

Snowden's Russian lawyer reiterated his desire to come home, but only if he is guaranteed a fair and open trial.
​Screengrab: ​CitizenFour trailer

​Edward Snowden's Russian lawyer reiterated today that Snowden is willing to return to the US, so long as he is given a fair trial, according to​ the AFP.

"He is thinking about it. He has a desire to return and we are doing everything we can to make it happen," said Anatoly Kucherena, the AFP reports.

It may seem particularly notable that arguably the biggest whistleblower in the history of the US—and one of the few whose life hasn't been completely r​uined by coming forward—wants to come home. But this has long be​en Snowden's stance. In a​n interview with the New Yorker in October, for example, the NSA whistleblower said he tried to negotiate with the US government to ensure a fair and open trial.

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"The question there was: would the American justice system be open to that?" Snowden told the New Yorker. "I have told the government again and again in negotiations that if they're prepared to offer an open trial, a fair trial, in the same way that Dan Ellsberg got, and I'm allowed to make my case to the jury, I would love to do so."

Ellsberg was a Vietnam War strategist who leaked the Pentagon papers and was charged under the Espionage Act (as was Snowden). He was not permitted to speak during his own trial but his char​ges were eventually dismissed by the judge.

"In my case and all of the cases of the last decade, we see that the way the law is being used in whistleblowing cases has changed," Snowden said in October. "You're actually forbidden now from making a public interest defense if you're charged under the Espionage Act."

In 2013, federal prosecutors charged​ Snowden with "unauthorized communication of national defense information" and "willful communication of classified communications intelligence information to an unauthorized person," under the Espionage Act, as well as theft, leaving him facing a possibl​e combined sentence of 30 years in jail. After the charges, Snowden claimed political asylum in Russia, where he has remained since.

Kucherena told reporters that Snowden has been assured that he will not face the death penalty, but has not been guaranteed anything beyond that, according to the AFP. Kucherena said a team of lawyers are working on negotiating an open trial, but he did not indicate that anything had changed in Snowden's status.

And the fact is Snowden may never get the trial he hopes for. Jesselyn Radack, one of Snowden's legal advisors and a lawyer who has represented other whistleblowers including Thomas Drake, called a fair trial under the Espiona​ge Act "a fantasy," in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal.

"Under the Espionage Act, no prosecution of a non-spy can be fair or just. The 1917 law, enacted shortly after the U.S. entered World War I, was intended to apply to spies, not modern-day whistleblowers accused of mishandling allegedly classified information," Radack wrote.

Other legal scholars have a​rgued Snowden would get a fair trial, even with the charges he's facing, leaving some critics telling him to bite the bullet and return to the US. But unless he gets a crystal clear signal from the government that he will face a fair and open trial and be given a chance to argue his case, it's unlikely Snowden will be coming home anytime soon.

Kucherena, a prolific a​uthor, had called the press conference to promote a book he has published about his experience representing Snowden.