Nicaraguan Media Publish Snowden Asylum Request Letter

[Purveyor]

BUENOS AIRES, July 7 (RIA Novosti) – Nicaraguan media published on Sunday a letter by ex-CIA employee Edward Snowden requesting asylum in the Central American country as the fugitive intelligence expert rejects the possibility of a ‘fair trial’ in the United States where he may face ‘life in prison or even death.’

A copy of the letter was posted on the website of Nicaraguan Radio Ya. The letter is dated June 30 and was written in Moscow and addressed to “representatives of the Republic of Nicaragua.”

“I, Edward Snowden, citizen of the United States of America, request asylum in the Republic of Nicaragua because of the risk of being persecuted by the government of the United States and its agents in relation to my decision to make public serious violations on the part of the government of the United States of its Constitution, specifically of its Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and of various treaties of the United Nations that are binding on my country,” the letter reads.

“I believe that, given these circumstances, it is unlikely that I would receive a fair trial or proper treatment prior to that trial, and face the possibility of life in prison or even death.”
Some of the charges brought against Snowden by the US Justice Department are connected to espionage and may entail life in prison, the ex-CIS employee said in his letter.

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http://en.rian.ru/world/20130707/182105696/Nicaraguan-Media-Publish-Snowden-Asylum-Request-Letter.html

[allin99]

1. i think he's dead. He applied to both Ncgua and Venzla...

they both said yes and not a peep out of him.

[Igel]

2. No, he's just in a corner snivelling.

It dawns on me that he started his espionage career before Manning went public.

Then he was stuck. If he went public, he figured the new spelling of "Manning" would be s-n-o-w-d-e-n.

Is there a direct flight from Moskva to either Caracas to Tegucigalpa?

Then again, I'm sure there's one from Moscu to Havana, and the trip from Havana to either of the countries of socialist solidarity would just take a puddle jumper. It's just a question of bravery: Dare he risk travelling on Aeroflot and then the Cuban (or Venezuelan, or Nicaraguan national airline)?

[CakeGrrl]

3. Maybe not. These countries go TOTALLY against his ideological grain.

He could either still be holding out for better offers, or he may be on some sort of lockdown, dealing with the devils of China and Russia as he has, and possibly getting caught up in Russian geopolitical chess.

Who knows what we'll hear next?

[treestar]

4. He has no ground to claim he would not get a fair trial in the US

Imperfect as it is, there is no better country (maybe a few equals) for fairness and due process.

What an asshole.

Politics of Nicaragua takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nicaragua is both head of state and head of government, and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the National Assembly. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Between 2007 and 2009, Nicaragua's major political parties discussed the possibility of going from a presidential system to a parliamentary system. Their reason: there would be a clear differentiation between the head of government (Prime Minister) and the head of state (President). Nevertheless, it was later argued that the true reason behind this proposal was to find a legal way for current President Ortega to stay in power after January 2012 (this is when his second and last government period ends).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua#Government

[Purveyor]

5. Ask Bradley Manning how about 'fair trial and treatment'. eom