|
 "We assume that it will be extended," Wolfgang Kaleck, Snowden's
lawyer in Germany, was quoted as saying by Germany's Inforadio.
He added that there was, however, no guarantee this would happen.
Russia granted Snowden a year's asylum in August 2013 despite the
United States wanting Moscow to send him home to face criminal
charges, including espionage, for disclosing in June secret U.S
internet and telephone surveillance programs.
Last month Snowden said he was not under the control of Russia's
government and had given Moscow no intelligence documents after
nearly a year of asylum there.
 Kaleck also called on the German parliamentary committee that wants
to question Snowden as part of its inquiry into the mass
surveillance of German citizens which he exposed, to request a
hearing in Germany.
A hearing in Moscow would not be practicable, Inforadio reported
Kaleck as saying.
[to top of second column] |
Revelations about the U.S. National Security Agency's (NSA) spying
activities have put strains on relations between Berlin and
Washington.
Germany's top public prosecutor said on Wednesday he was launching
an investigation into the bugging of Chancellor Angela Merkel's
mobile phone by U.S. intelligence in the light of revelations by
Snowden.
(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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