Famous American whistleblower and former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the man responsible for exposing a number of global surveillance programs run by the US agency, has recently revealed that he would like to obtain asylum in France.
Noting that he actually applied for French asylum back in 2013, during Francois Hollande’s presidency, Snowden told France Inter radio that he hopes that President Emmanuel Macron might approve his claim.
"The saddest thing of this whole story is that the only place an American whistleblower has the chance to be heard is not in Europe but here (in Russia)," the whistleblower said in a trailer of the interview which is going to be broadcast in its entirety on 16 September.
As AFP points out, so far over a dozen countries have "turned down requests" to take Snowden in, which led him to question their reasoning and "the system we live in."
News of this development come ahead of the upcoming release of Snowden’s memoir, titled "Permanent Record", that will take place on 17 September - the same day the final draft of the US Constitution was created over two centuries ago.
"Everything that we do now lasts forever, not because we want to remember, but because we’re no longer allowed to forget," the whistleblower said in a video he tweeted last month touting the book’s release, adding that his part in "helping to create that system" remains his "greatest regret."
