An appellate court in California ruled illegal the surveillance of the population uncovered in 2013 by the former employee of the US National Security Agency (NSA) Edward Snowden. Reported by Reuters.
Collecting telephone records of US citizens without court permission violates the Foreign Intelligence Covert Surveillance Act. It is noted that such a decision was made during the appeal against the verdict of four Somalis who lived in California. They were convicted in 2013 for funding religious fanatics. American officials pointed out that it was for the purpose of such a fight that the surveillance was conducted, but the court rejected this argument. At the same time, he upheld the verdict to the Somalis, since their telephone conversations were not the main evidence.
Snowden himself noted after that that he did not believe that he would live to see the day when the American courts called the actions of the NSA illegal.
On August 16, it was reported that US President Donald Trump was thinking about pardoning Snowden.
In 2013, Snowden handed over documents to reporters from The Guardian and The Washington Post, which spoke about the program of American intelligence services to spy on both US citizens and residents of other countries. After that, he fled the United States and at the same time requested political asylum from several dozen countries, including Russia, where he eventually received a residence permit.
In the United States, Snowden is charged with the illegal transfer of information of great importance to national security, the willful transfer of intelligence information and theft of state property. In total, he faces up to 30 years in prison.
