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Prosecutors said Snowden was unlikely to be granted asylum in Switzerland because he was given a three-year residency in Russia last month. Photo: AFP

Switzerland flags 'safe passage' for Edward Snowden to spying inquiry

Safe passage possible for whistle-blower if he aided criminal probe of US spying, prosecutor says

Former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden could be granted safe passage in Switzerland if he helped a potential criminal inquiry into US spying there, the Swiss public prosecutor's office said.

He would probably not be extradited to the United States if Washington asked, but it was also unlikely that he would be granted political asylum, according to a document laying out Switzerland's legal options if Snowden were to visit.

The prosecutor's office, which provided the document on Monday, emphasised the issue was purely hypothetical because Snowden had not been invited to leave his refuge in Russia. It had no further comment.

The document, which was leaked last week, prompted lively debate in the Swiss media.

Some German politicians have suggested inviting Snowden to Germany to testify about United States National Security Agency (NSA) spying there, but Berlin has ruled that out to avoid a clash with Washington over extraditing him to the US.

Michael McCaul, Republican head of the US House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security, reacted to the Swiss debate by telling the US-based magazine that Snowden should not be allowed to "trade our intelligence community's sources and methods for safe haven in other countries".

According to the three-page Swiss document, "Edward Snowden could be assured of free movement by the federal prosecutor if he cooperated with a criminal investigation" into US spy activities he says he learned about while working in Geneva.

Switzerland would not comply with a US extradition request if he was accused of treason or divulging state secrets because such charges would have a "political character" under Swiss law, the document said.

The guarantee for Snowden's free passage in Switzerland could be trumped by "higher state obligations" such as a treaty, the document said, adding this required more study.

Marcel Bosonnet, Snowden's lawyer in Switzerland, did not comment on the document.

The prosecutors said Snowden was unlikely to be granted asylum in Switzerland because he was given a three-year residency in Russia last month.

The decision on whether to grant Snowden asylum in Switzerland lies with the government and with justice officials.

Video: Snowden and Assange accuse NZ govt. of spying

Snowden worked as a computer technician for the CIA in the US mission to the UN in Geneva between 2007 and 2009.

He has told London's newspaper he had a "formative" experience in the Swiss city when he found out about an incident in which the CIA deliberately got a Swiss banker drunk and encouraged him to drive home.

When he was arrested, a CIA operative offered to intervene and later recruited the banker, Snowden has claimed. Some Swiss officials have questioned if the incident ever happened.

Snowden has continued to harry the US and its allies over the spying operations of the US, despite his exile in Russia.

On Monday, he said that the NSA was collecting mass surveillance data on New Zealanders and had set up a facility to tap into vast amounts of data. Snowden talked via video link to hundreds of people at Auckland's town hall.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Swiss could offer Snowden deal
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