A man checks his mobile phone in front of a monitor broadcasting news on U.S. charges against Edward Snowden, a former contractor at the National Security Agency (NSA), at a shopping mall in Hong Kong June 22, 2013. REUTERS/Bobby Yip
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has filed espionage charges against Edward Snowden, a former U.S. National Security Agency contractor who admitted revealing secret surveillance programs to media outlets, according to a court document made public on Friday.
The charges are the government's first step in what could be a long legal battle to return Snowden from Hong Kong, where he is believed to be in hiding, and try him in a U.S. court. A Hong Kong newspaper said he was under police protection, but the territory's authorities declined to comment.
