Edward Snowden: I would love to return to Geneva

Edward Snowden: "Some of my favourite memories are from Geneva." Photo: AFP

Geneva: Edward Snowden has made a public appeal for Switzerland to grant him asylum, saying he would like to return to live in Geneva, where he once worked undercover for the Central Intelligence Agency.

The fugitive former US spy agency contractor, wanted by Washington for leaking details of US mass surveillance program, 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, where he was asked about seeking asylum.

The whistleblower says Geneva is "a wonderful place". Photo:

"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.

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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.

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Edward Snowden: I would love to return to Geneva