I don't know but if I had to guess, it's because they have no reason to get into more specific and lesser charges until/unless it looks like he might be coming to trial. Then again, it's not the first time a slide has been challenged: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/11/us-germany-usa-spying-idUSKBN0JP1Q... Germany's top public prosecutor said an investigation into suspected

tapping of Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone by U.S. spies had so far failed to find any concrete evidence. Revelations by former National Security Agency employee Edward Snowden that Washington carried out large-scale electronic espionage in Germany provoked widespread outrage -- particularly the allegation that the NSA had bugged Merkel's phone. Harald Range launched an official investigation in June, believing there was enough preliminary evidence to show unknown U.S. intelligence officers had tapped the phone, although there was not enough clarity on the issue to bring charges. On Wednesday he said however, *"the document presented in public as proof of an actual tapping of the mobile phone is not an authentic surveillance order by the NSA. It does not come from the NSA database."There is no proof at the moment which could lead to charges that Chancellor Merkel's phone connection data was collected or her calls tapped."* Range said neither a reporter for German news magazine Spiegel who presented the document, nor Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency, nor Snowden had provided further details to his office.

From the German prosecutor, not an NSA spokesperson.

*Plus*, as I said in the post - *Snowden didn't see all the materials he leaked*. If the document was forged and not legitimate or a mockup produced by GCHQ for proposal purposes, etc., it could have been modified or fabricated *after* Snowden gave up his trove. Did you read the entire post, or just decide that "If he's not a Snowden-ite, he's probably a liar or a bad man"?? *Georgi Guninski* guninski@guninski.com *Fri Oct 9 09:49:45 EDT 2015*

Why they don't charge Snowden for fabricating/photoshoping?