Pirate Bay co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm has been deported from Cambodia to Sweden to serve a one year jail sentence for breach of copyright. On arrival he was charged with a further offence; I have received several messages that this new charge relates to his work in hosting Wikileaks, but I have no confirmation at the moment and Svartholm is being held incommunicado. Can anyone confirm or contradict this?
Svartholm had been assured by Swedish authorities that, if he returned back to serve his jail sentence, he would not face further charges; that was broken the moment he arrived back in Sweden. That may well be a pointer for how seriously we can take assurances that the patently false “sexual assault” charges fabricated against Julian Assange are the real motive for the Swedish authorities’ pursuit of him.
EU Commission sources tell me that Sweden paid Cambodia around 50 million euros for Svartholm’s deportation to Sweden (there is no extradition agreement). The money is in government to government aid and targeted on development of democratic institutions and global warming. The Cambodian government is scarcely a democracy, and the idea that the money will, once paid over, in fact be usefully spent in those areas is extremely fanciful. From my own very substantial experience of development aid, 50 million Euros is a very large sum to dedicate to those areas in terms of the overall Swedish development aid budget, and absolutely unprecedented between Sweden and Cambodia. My EU Commission source is adamant that this “aid” payment and Svartholm’s extradition were agreed at the same meeting between Swedish and Cambodian officials a week ago.
The Svartholm case and the dodgy “aid” payment has been very little covered by the mainstream media, because it reveals the extraordinary lengths to which the Swedish authorities are prepared to go, to please the US in bringing down those involved with Wikileaks, and to dissociate themeselves from Sweden’s brief period as the home of internet freedom.
Wow! I hope we will also follow this case. It is instructive to see how squalid Swedish “justice” seems to be. I can’t say I knew much about Sweden really but vaguely thought that it was some lefty haven compared to the UK. Please posters let us check the details of this case as they emerge, both for its own sake and our expanding knowledge of the Assange farrago.
BTW, yesterday I read the Swedish lawyer’s (linked from Craig’s Assange blog) assessment of the Assange case legitimacy. I recommend reading it.
Here’s the link again:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/48396086/Assange-Case-Opinion-Sven-Erik-Alhem
(BTW mods, can I use html tags or will the above automatically be a hotlink? thanks)
regards
Julian
Sorry Mods, I see my question was irrelevant, the answer is yes! ;_)
Hi Craig,
I haven’t been following the most closely, but these links seem to suggest that they are not (officially) related in any way to WikiLeaks.
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-arrest-related-to-tax-hack-not-piracy-120906/
http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-co-founder-lands-in-sweden-immediately-charged-by-police-120911/ — see the Update toward the bottom.
That said, I can’t imagine it was the copyright lobby behind it. As reasons, I’ll cite common sense and this link: http://torrentfreak.com/pirate-bay-founder-arrest-followed-by-59m-swedish-aid-package-for-cambodia-120905/
I would be extremely surprised to find out the behind-the-scenes motivation wasn’t related to his involvement with the Pirate Party / WikiLeaks / PRQ crowd.
Phil posted this on the Irmeli Krans thread
Phil
8 Sep, 2012 – 4:38 pm
Sweden is seeking the extradition of the Pirate Bay founder on a hacking charge rather than any copyright infringement laws.
It is tempting to see a parallel here with Assange – in that Sweden is pursuing those the US government wants stopped, on charges not directly related to the real issue.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/pirate-bay-founder-arrest/
and I am sure I mentioned it earlier here too but cannot find the post now.
Put another way,perhaps,Sweden was paid $64,365,000 to pay Cambodia 50 Million Euros?
This makes one wonder how deeply rooted the tentacles of the evil empire are in other countries such as Sweden, which might be considered to be “Liberal Democracies” by the general populace.
For a minute there Craig I thought you had concluded that €50,000000
Would detract from nurture and be assisting in global.warming and be detrenental to nature.
Maybe I am not an optimist but I believe that money will buy air con units and gas guzzling parties
Not land agriculture, and feeding tje forrests.
Democracy is 2 wolves and a lamb deciding on what to have for dinner.
Democracy is a Greek tradgedy please cant we just be realists
It is no coincidence that he was arrested on the same day US trade ambassador Ron Kirk visited Cambodia. Svartholm’s address was known for some time and no action taken before.
While the RIAA and MPAA have been buying new laws through President Obama and having him force these laws on other countries, along with helping extradite ‘website owners’, this case is obviously not about The Pirate bay website.
The large sums of money involved can only be about something bigger.
The excuse for the original arrest was that Svartholm’s visa had expired. The normal process is to deport you to a country of your choice. He was denied this choice. He was also denied legal representation and the Swedish Embassy offered no help nor would tell his family or legal help where he was located as he kept being moved to non-immigration related buildings.
So Sweden lied about no further charges, paid Cambodia a hefty sum, denied legal representation, made sure usual deportation rules were ignored, sent some Government employees to escort him back home and then charged him with additional crimes.
The whole thing stinks. After the Assange stuff, Sweden is getting a name as Americas new lapdog.
“BTW, yesterday I read the Swedish lawyer’s (linked from Craig’s Assange blog) assessment of the Assange case legitimacy. I recommend reading it. Here’s the link again: http://www.scribd.com/doc/48396086/Assange-Case-Opinion-Sven-Erik-Alhem ”
Why not read what he said under cross-examination as well, the court hearing was 18 months ago.
“On the account given by Ms Ny it would have been a reasonable reaction to apply for an EAW. “Certainly, I would have done the same myself”.”
http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/Misc/2011/5.html
Craig,
Great that you have taken this up. I was concerned that the matter would fade away. We cant expect much from the swedish media. A lot of back slapping at present on the release of the 2 Swedish journalists held in Ethiopia. Happy for the journalists involved but once again refects on the hypocrisy displayed by the media and establishment against Assange. There is speculation that the US geven their good relations with the Ethiopian regime assisted Sweden with Assange as payback. Sounds very realistic.
We should not confuse our energies for justice for oppressed peoples and whistle-blowers with justice for dodgy commercial operators such as Pirate Bay. They make themselves rich, very rich by not paying musicians and composers. They are no freedom fighter Robin Hoods.
Jason Sands,
Read the cross-examination you refer to. His assent was conditional on Ms Ny’s account being correct; he made plain that account differed from Mr Hurtig’s. See pare 19 of your first link for his considered position.
The semantics associated with Democracy the Western Brand is “mob role”. As any discerning observer would note the insistence of all the participants to remain on the “same page”, “sing from same hymn sheet”, “talk with a united voice”, etc. simply put it is a kind of mob role that does not tolerate any kind of dissent, or deviations from the laws set (normally by the plutocrats for the benefit of the plutocrats).
Therefore it is an elegant consequence of the said mob role that the chap is extradited from Cambodia under the false promises and pretences only for him to be stuffed upon arrival in the “Freedom” lands!
Sweden indeed is a dark little kingdom in more than one sense of the word.
TonyF12,
I changed my views on copyright after hearing the other Pirate Bay co-founder speak at the Edinburgh Science Festival last year (can’t recall his name – Peter?). I certainly don’t think he was in it for the money – a very interesting thinker indeed. But the point here is that it seems again the copyright charges may be something of a pretext.
TonyF12
Just how much do these said “artists want to get paid?” and how many times do they intend to get paid for the same work over and over again?
Don’t come the poor little artists, it does not wash and ought not to wash, I don’t pay a royalty fee to the Pizza parlour I get my Pizza from, because he was the first guy in the town to put anchovies on his Pizza.
The whole racket is a scam, ever seen a poor artist? They get the women, the parties, the fame, and they want money for it too? I would be happy just to get the first lot and me supper and sing my tits off mate!
Jay:
The idea of democracy is perhaps not so bad; it is the fact that it has been hijacked by the rich and powerful and made totally dependent on oodles of money to even think about contesting an election, is the real problem. What never ceases to amaze me is that the political parties openly state their most important goal: to gain power. Policies are totally subjugated to the primary aim.
Craig, Peter Sunde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Sunde
Passerby, you need to do some research into what makes a functioning modern democracy. It is not, as you impute, mob rule; as well as government by majority-elected representatives, there is also the matter of social justice safeguards in law and custom and popular institutions, and critical oversight by the press and media. Now, this is the ideal, which stands in marked contrast to the way things are being run today in the UK and the US. Do not confuse the current bowdlerised versions of democracy with the real thing.
O/T Dominic Grieve is going to seriously consider asking the High Court to order another inquest into the deaths at Hillsborough. It will take time we hear. As much time as it took to say that there would be NO inquest into Dr Kelly’s death? As you might know the High Court turned down an application by Mr Halpin for a judicial review of that decision. That fight for justice continues.
Joshua Rosenberg (Melanie Phillips’ husband) thinks it would be a good idea if another Hillborough inquest was held.
It’s hard to see what law you could charge someone for hosting Wikileaks. I don’t suppose internal government documents are copyrighted?
Wired are suggesting he was arrested for hacking the Swedish tax authority.
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/09/pirate-bay-airport-arrest/
You’ve hit the nail on the head with “The Svartholm case and the dodgy “aid” payment has been very little covered by the mainstream media, because it reveals the extraordinary lengths to which the Swedish authorities are prepared to go, to please the US in bringing down those involved with Wikileaks, and to dissociate themeselves from Sweden’s brief period as the home of internet freedom.”
Why complicate things? This is no dodgy conspiracy. No aid money was necessary to achive this – that aid had been negotiated long ago. This is a simple immigration matter in Cambodia, and Sweden are obviously interested in bringing him home. Some mild diplomatic pressure may have been involved I suppose but since the matter is so straightforward there is no need to pay tens of millions of dollars to get him home.
For Sweden this is a matter of bringing Svartholm home to serve his sentence and potentially face charges for a new crime – the possible intrusion in the tax authorities’ computer systems. Whether we like the outcome of his original trial or not, he is in fact sentenced to prison and didn’t show up to serve his sentence when he should. So Sweden want him home. No surprise there.
For Cambodia it is just a matter of deporting someone who has overstayed his visa. Normal procedure.
So, the Swedish gov revoked his passport (normal procedure under the circumstances). Then Svartholm’s visa in Cambodia expired. The Cambodian authorities then picked him up and deported him. Simple as that, no conspiracy theories necessary.
Normally, when you are deported you can go anywhere yo want. No need to go home to your home country. And the Swedish handlers that escorted him don’t have any judicial powers outside of Sweden and can’t force him to travel where they want.
But – since he doesn’t have a valid passport – he didn’t really have any other choice than to follow his handlers to Sweden even if they couldn’t legally force him. No other country (with the possible exception of Ecuador?) would let him enter without passport.
And once he landed in Sweden he could be formally arrested.
So. Mission accomplished. No extradition treaty needed, no secret payoffs needed, no conspiracy needed. Just a deportation and a revoked passport. Simple really.
Don’t overcomplicate things guys.
Mike Cobley,
Thanks for the advice and optimism, however a little point that may have been overlooked;
The semantics associated with Democracy the Western Brand is “mob role”
The kind of bilge that is on tap and on demand that basically promotes three facets of Freedom brand;
a- Freedom of Choice
b- Freedom of expression
c- Freedom of opportunity
Nice sounding pile of bollocks that is shoved down the throats of the punters at large who are verily enjoying their other Freedoms;
Freedom to be homeless
Freedom to go hungry
Freedom to be jerked around when ill (in UK, elsewhere to suffer the pains and agony and finally accept death as a credible alternative to life)
Freedom to be jobless
Freedom to remain penniless and uncertain about the future.
Well I am sure you get the drift, with all these Freedoms the only remaining alternative to anarchy and chaos is “Majority Lead Democracy” brand which in other parts of the world are known as lynch mobs and rule of the mob.
Hence the imperatives of remaining united in government and coalition and opposition and anywhere that really is to project the unity of the mob and their unbending will to crush any-kind of dissent, or deviations from their prescribed behaviour.
PS Clegg is dropping “bigot” from his speech (coz Cammy is not happy about his proposal) on the most diverse policy of gay marriages, which as you know is a pressing matter for nine out of ten households and eleven out of ten pet owners who prefer Freedom Fries in sesame oil for their pets!
TonyF12:
Well, that’s what the “Intellectual Property” advocates and the corporate media would have us believe, but the reality is very different. The “copyright industry” make themselves rich, very rich, by excessively promoting a tiny proportion of artists, composers etc, while ripping off a larger number, and completely ignoring the vast majority of creativity.
I find it all very sick. Young people with talent generally receive no support for their creativity, but a tiny minority are paid millions and are catapulted into an international media limelight they are quite unprepared for. Not surprisingly, many develop outrageous lifestyles and become addicted to drugs and publicity. A few end up dead. All this tragedy makes very good fodder for the corporate media.
In all, Big Media uses and abuses creative people. Meanwhile, funding for music and arts education is decimated, and music festivals organised directly by young creative people are blocked by harsh and perverse application of rules, and sometimes by direct violence.
We could see the problems with copyright developing decades in advance. I was asking myself what would become of copyright back in the 1980s, when it became clear that computers would soon be able to copy all forms of media perfectly and without limit. Our politicians should have started to modify things, forcing the media barons to distribute their vast profits among a much larger number of creative people, and finding fairer ways to route profits back to the artists themselves, rather than the companies they have to “sign to” in order to enjoy any success at all.
Michael Stephenson, when Craig tried to publish the telegrams that vindicated his claims against the UK government, they claimed Crown Copyright on them, and used that as an excuse to prevent publication of his book.
Despite Eric’s “nothing to see here, move on” effort, Gotfrid’s friend gives an interesting account of what went on.
It looks very much like the Swedes played very fast and loose with due process and procedure, as we know went on in the Assange case. These female Swedish officials don’t even seem to make any effort to defend their tactics. They just get flustered when questioned. It reminds of the Female Swedish officials in the Assange case. It’s like they know what’s going on is wrong but they don’t front up the way a male official would do. They attempt a version of it, but it ain’t convincing. They don’t back down however. I suspect it might be easier to emmbarrass a male and make more progress.
I’d love to know is there any work in this area, particularly with regard to Sweden. It’s all very Milgramish.
https://torrentfreak.com/sweden-kidnapped-my-friend-pirate-bay-co-founder-anakata-120810/
He was arrested for another crime that is much more serious than his copyright crimes with TPB, and this has nothing to do with wikileaks.
Yes, the ‘aid’ may have accelerated the deportation, but Sweden gives a lot of money to Cambodia every year, so it’s nothing new.
Sorry to spoil the conspiracy theories 🙂
Eric says: “This is no dodgy conspiracy. No aid money was necessary to achive this – that aid had been negotiated long ago.”
Craig says: “EU Commission sources tell me that Sweden paid Cambodia around 50 million euros for Svartholm’s deportation to Sweden. […] From my own very substantial experience of development aid, 50 million Euros is a very large sum to dedicate to those areas in terms of the overall Swedish development aid budget, and absolutely unprecedented between Sweden and Cambodia.”
Does anyone have a source for Swedish aid distributions? Craig’s assertion looks more likely to me, but if Sweden is distributing similar sums of aid to many other countries similar to Cambodia, Craig’s argument is weakened.
Eric, what knowledge of the Swedish-Cambodian aid negotiations do you have? Can you link to an authoritative source?
This is extremely sickening. Corrupt governments who are still able to convince people like Eric, who doesn´t even know that Gottfried was legally in Cambodia. I just read his friend in that link “sweden kidnapped my friend” and it´s disgusting.
What is ahead of this whole shit? We ought to stop them!