Norway Seeks Dismissal of Lawsuit Protecting Snowden From Extradition

The government of Norway is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit against the Norwegian state which aims to obtain legal guarantees against Edward Snowden’s extradition to the United States in case of his arrival to Norway, local media report.

STOCKHOLM (Sputnik) – Snowden has been awarded the annual Ossietzky Prize of the Norwegian branch of the PEN Club for his mass surveillance revelations. The award ceremony will take place in Oslo in November. The PEN Club has filed a petition in Oslo City Court to allow Snowden to attend the ceremony with a guarantee that he would not be extradited to the United States from Norway.

The Norwegian News Agency (NTB) reported on Wednesday that the government of Norway is asking the Oslo court to dismiss the lawsuit, pointing to the fact that the issue of extradition does not fall into the civil case category.

Snowden, a former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, started making revelations about widespread US global surveillance in 2013. The same year, Russia granted the whistleblower temporary asylum for one year. In August 2014, Snowden received a three-year residence permit to live in Russia.

His whereabouts in Russia are a closely-guarded secret.

Snowden's data leaks could cost him as much as 30 years in prison in the United States, where he is wanted on charges of espionage and theft of government property.

The PEN Club’s Ossietzky Prize is named after Carl von Ossietzky, a German winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.