US says it won’t seek death penalty for Snowden

World, Washington:  US Attorney General Eric Holder has assured the Russian government the US has no plans to seek the death penalty for Edward Snowden.

In a letter dated Tuesday, the attorney general said the criminal charges Snowden now faces in this country do not carry the death penalty and the US will not seek his execution even if he is charged with additional serious crimes.

Holder’s letter followed news reports that Snowden, who leaked details of top secret US surveillance programs, has filed papers seeking temporary asylum in Russia on grounds that if he were returned to the United States he would be tortured and would face the death penalty.

Snowden has been charged with three offenses in the US, including espionage, and could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

The attorney general’s letter was sent to Alexander Vladimirovich Konovalov, the Russian minister of Justice.

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Holder’s letter is part of a campaign by the US government to get Snowden back.

When Snowden arrived at Moscow’s international airport a month ago, he was believed to be planning simply to transfer to a flight to Cuba and then to Venezuela to seek asylum.

But the US cancelled his passport, stranding him. Besides applying for temporary asylum in Russia, he has said he would like to visit the countries that offered him permanent asylum — Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua. Some Russian politicians, including Parliament Speaker Sergei Naryshkin, have said Snowden should be granted asylum to protect him from the death penalty.

If Snowden were to go to a country that opposes the death penalty, providing assurances that the US won’t seek it could remove at least one obstacle to his return to America.

“I can report that the United States is prepared to provide to the Russian government the following assurances regarding the treatment Mr Snowden would face upon return to the United States,” Holder wrote.

He said if Snowden returned to the US he would promptly be brought before a civilian court and would receive “all the protections that United States law provides.”-AP