Snowden wants to return to Geneva

Edward Snowden

The fugitive former US spy agency contractor, wanted by Washington for leaking details of US mass surveillance programmes, spoke from Moscow by video link to a Geneva audience after a viewing of "Citizenfour", an Oscar-winning documentary about his case.

"I would love to return to Switzerland, some of my favourite memories are from Geneva. It's a wonderful place," he told the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights on Thursday night (local time), where he was asked about seeking asylum.

"I do think Switzerland would be a sort of great political option because it has a history of neutrality," he said, praising its multicultural diversity and human rights record.

Snowden said he had appealed to 21 countries, "the majority in central and Western Europe", for asylum after the United States cancelled his passport and he was stopped from going to Ecuador.

"Unfortunately no country said yes," he said, blaming "political interference" by the Obama administration.

Snowden was accredited to the US diplomatic mission in Geneva from March 2007 to February 2009, tapping communications systems.

"Switzerland still has an active US espionage presence, I think that is true of other countries as well ... espionage is illegal in Switzerland," he said.

Snowden, 31, reiterated that he would not return to the United States unless offered a "fair trial".

"I am working very hard with my lawyers to try to get reliable guarantees of a fair trial. Unfortunately the Department of Justice is unwilling to agree in that regard.

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Snowden wants to return to Geneva