Russia keeps fugitive whistle-blower Edward Snowden in legal limbo

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http://www.latimes.com/world/europe/la-fg-snowden-legal-limbo-20140801-story.html



Former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden had a one-year asylum permit in Russia that expired Friday. The Kremlin has not said whether it will be renewed.

Russia keeps fugitive whistle-blower Edward Snowden in legal limbo
By Isabel Gorst
8.1.2014

The Kremlin is keeping Edward Snowden guessing about whether it will renew temporary asylum for the fugitive U.S. intelligence contractor.

Snowden, who is wanted by U.S. prosecutors after he leaked details about NSA surveillance practices, was stranded in the transit lounge at a Moscow airport in June 2013 while trying to flee to Latin America, where several countries had offered him permanent refuge. Russia waited for more than a month before granting him a one-year temporary asylum permit, which expired Friday.

Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer representing Snowden, said this week that his client had asked federal migration authorities several weeks ago to extend his asylum, but had not yet received a reply.

“Edward is still on Russian territory and we have prepared and submitted a package of documents applying for temporary political asylum,” Kucherena told Russian television Thursday. An official decision was expected in the coming days, he added.