back to article Pirate Bay captain pleads with Swedes: Don't make me walk Danish plank

The founder of The Pirate Bay has written a letter to the Swedish government urging it not to deport him to Denmark. Gottfrid Svartholm Warg is due to face trial in Denmark alongside another unnamed suspect. The pair are expected to be charged with hacking into a social security database, accessing the email accounts of …

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  1. Maharg

    Human rights

    I really struggle with the concept of anyone facing extradition to a Scandinavian country complaining of their human rights (.

    Sweden should give him a choice.

    A choice between being prosecuted and if found guilty face jail time in either Denmark or his adopted home of Cambodia. I reckon he will be singing “Der er et yndigt land” all the way to the court, Either that or he will be looking up the location of the nearest South American Embassy…

    1. Graham Marsden

      Re: Human rights

      Paragraph 2 of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights says:

      2. Everyone who is arrested shall be informed promptly, in a language which he understands, of the reasons for his arrest and of any charge against him.

      This is re-iterated in Paragraph 3 of Article 6:

      3.Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:

      (a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him;

      Additionally Article 4 of Protocol 7 prohibits the re-trial of anyone who has already been finally acquitted or convicted of a particular offence.

      So, it doesn't matter whether you struggle to comprehend these rights or not, they are what he is entitled to.

      1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge

        Re: Human rights

        Graham,

        Everyone who is arrested shall be informed promptly, presumably means after his arrest. Has he even been arrested yet, given he's currently in prison for a different offence - and therefore not going anywhere?

        It also seems pretty unlikely. If this is a European Arrest Warrant, then their must be a Swedish version for the Swedish to be able to enforce it. Although there could be some arcane matters of legal procedure as to when the actual arrest takes place, I'm not a lawyer.

        The second article you quote forbids re-trial, but not necessarily re-arrest pending investigation.

        Remember this is the European Arrest Warrant. It's not extradition, where there needs to be a prima facie case made. This is the same argument that Julian Assange just lost. He's not even been charged, because under Swedish law you must have a pre-charge interview. Which he left the country before.

        Now the Swedish Supreme Court may take a different attitude to ours, which was that the law was acceptable. It would certainly be funny if they were willing to accept Assange, but unwilling to give up Warg under the same law.

        But it's supposed to be arrest, not extradition. It's why I think the EAW was a rubbish idea, although it's still only the second worst extradition treaty that the last Labour government signed! the dozy bunch of idiots...

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

      3. Maharg

        Re: Human rights @ Graham

        2. Everyone who is arrested shall be informed promptly, in a language which he understands, of the reasons for his arrest and of any charge against him

        He hasn’t been arrested

        3.Everyone charged with a criminal offence has the following minimum rights:

        (a) to be informed promptly, in a language which he understands and in detail, of the nature and cause of the accusation against him

        He hasn’t been charged

        Additionally Article 4 of Protocol 7 prohibits the re-trial of anyone who has already been finally acquitted or convicted of a particular offence.

        its not a re trial, he has been jailed for hacking into a Swedish IT company and making illegal online bank transfers.

        While the Danes want him for hacking into a Danish Police data base.

        Its just like if you went to jail for robbing a bank Japan, you can still be done for robbing a bank in Italy.

        Just because they are both ‘Robbery’ doesn’t mean they are the same “particular offence”.

        So, it doesn't matter whether you struggle to comprehend these points or not, they are what this is about.

  2. Valeyard

    it was the one-armed guy

    " It was found that my computer could have been controlled remotely, and that it had acted as a ‘computer lab’/ server, accessible to a wider audience. I could therefore not be held responsible for what was found on it."

    HAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHA

    1. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: it was the one-armed guy

      Time to go enable remote desktop with a blank password then, as apparently this will get me off all charges I could possibly face...

      1. NumptyScrub

        Re: it was the one-armed guy

        quote: "Time to go enable remote desktop with a blank password then, as apparently this will get me off all charges I could possibly face..."

        If you are told as much in a court of law, after they have assessed the evidence, then yes.

        Whether you agree with it or not, that is apparently what the Swedish courts decided in his case. They apparently felt (rightly or wrongly) that there was not enough evidence to point directly at Warg being culpable for the Nordea hack (that pesky "innocent until proven guilty" thing). They still put him away for a year for the Logica thing though.

        If Denmark are actually intending to try him for the Nordea hack, it does sound like they want to overturn the Swedish courts decision. Personally, I do not like the sound of prosecution tourism, and fully agree that that would be the type of thing that the ECHR Protocol 7, Article 4 should be intended to stop.

        However he is shit outta luck on that score, since Sweden and Denmark are different States, and Protocol 7 only mentions double jeopardy inside the same State:

        "Article 4 – Right not to be tried or punished twice

        1. No one shall be liable to be tried or punished again in criminal proceedings under the jurisdiction of the same State for an offence for which he has already been finally acquitted or convicted in accordance with the law and penal procedure of that State.

        2. The provisions of the preceding paragraph shall not prevent the reopening of the case in accordance with the law and penal procedure of the State concerned, if there is evidence of new or newly discovered facts, or if there has been a fundamental defect in the previous proceedings, which could affect the outcome of the case.

        3. No derogation from this Article shall be made under Article 15 of the Convention."

        Emphasis mine.

  3. jonathanb Silver badge

    I think his argument is that he has already served his time for that offence in Sweden, and therefore it would be a breach of his human rights if he was jailed for it again.

  4. tony2heads
    Coat

    This sort of warg?

    http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Warg

    I'll put on my gandalf cloak and go on a long journey...

  5. Eguro

    Now granted it's possible he cannot understand Danish, at least not to a level that'll suffice for legal matters, however translation is easily done.

    The fact that he was acquitted of one crime - in Sweden - because his computer was not under his control (necessarily) doesn't mean that same defence will work in Denmark.

    Even so, no excuse not to come to the wonderful country.

    1. Terry Cloth
      FAIL

      Linguistic (in)abilities

      Back in undergrad days, a friend of Swedish ancestry took a course titled Reading Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian*, the idea being that the written (not spoken) languages were close enough as to make it possible (in one semester). Seems he's grasping at straws to claim he doesn't understand the warrant.

      Can anyone with real knowledge confirm or deny that this is the case?

      ---

      * Extra credit: Why isn't Finnish on this list?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All mouth until it's time to take his punishment

    The Pirate Bay boys have been all mouth until they have to finally take their punishment for massive copyright infringment and now all of a sudden they want mercy and forgiveness of their crimes. Fat chance of that happening. 25 years in the slammer is the medicine this clod deserves.

    1. Tommy Pock

      Re: All mouth until it's time to take his punishment

      Thanks for your input, Mister Faxon

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon
        FAIL

        Re: All mouth until it's time to take his punishment

        "punishment for massive copyright infringment"

        So you managed to read the entire article, yet completely miss the reasons why he is in prison and wanted for in Sweden? Welcome to Fail land.

  7. Velv
    Headmaster

    Poor poor poor

    Schengen agreement - A group of 26 European nations which have agreed to drop passport and immigration controls at their INTERNAL borders.

    The whole point is that they beef up their outer border with non-Schengen participants so that internal border controls are not required. They have not dropped passport and immigration controls.

  8. nanchatte
    Coat

    <option>Title</option>

    I've been out of Europe so long that until recently, I thought Schengen was a place near Guangzhou.

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