Leaker finds shelter in expat home: lawyer
United States fugitive Edward Snowden will publish no more leaks but instead look to build a life in Russia where he has been granted a year-long asylum, his lawyer said on Thursday.
Anatoly Kucherena, a Russian lawyer who is assisting Snowden, said the 30-year-old has found shelter in a private home of US expatriates after leaving Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport following more than five weeks in limbo there.
A pledge not to publish more information that could harm the United States was the condition under which Russian President Vladimir Putin said Snowden could receive safe harbor.
However, Snowden's promise does not extend to the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group to which he has already handed over much of his material, Kucherena said. He has also said that Snowden does not believe his earlier leaks had done harm to his homeland.
It is likely to do little to appease the White House, which wants Snowden sent home to face trial for leaking details of secret government surveillance programs.
"Edward assured me that he is not planning to publish any documents that blacken the American government," Kucherena said.
"But before that he said ... when he was in Hong Kong he gave a part of that material to journalists, so that material, of course, he can't take back."
Reuters
(China Daily 08/03/2013 page8)
