Edward Snowden tells Germany he hopes US will stop "harmful behaviour"

Edward Snowden has told the German government in a letter he believes support from around the world will persuade Washington to stop what he called "harmful behaviour" in trying to prevent him from revealing secret surveillance by the US government.

"Speaking the truth is not a crime," read the letter from the former US spy agency contractor, who has taken refuge in Russia. He gave the letter to German lawmaker Hans-Christian Stroebele, who presented it to the media in Berlin on Friday.

"I am confident that with the support of the international community, the government of the United States will abandon this harmful behaviour," wrote Snowden in the letter to Chancellor Angela Merkel, the German parliament and federal prosecutors.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke, Stephen Brown and Alexandra Hudson)