"From the first day Edward Snowden has been on the territory of Russia, sweeping accusations against him began to appear, without submitting any specific charges of committing any crime. A person must understand the subject of the charges to defend himself, and there is no such thing, there is a political chatter," Anatoly Kucherena told RIA Novosti.
The lawyer also called Washington’s claims of providing Snowden with a fair trial in the United States "cunning."
"We are well aware that such chatter, sweeping accusations, insults, him being used for political purposes by US presidential hopefuls – leave a just, fair trial of Edward Snowden out of the question," Kucherena added.
Snowden 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.
In the United States, he faces up to 30 years in prison on charges of espionage and theft of government property.
The US Espionage Act was never intended to prosecute journalistic sources used for public good and prevents Snowden from defending himself in an open court before a jury, according to the whistleblower.
