New Zealand-based internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom has been granted his request for his extradition appeal hearing to be livestreamed over the internet.
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In December, a judge ruled there was “overwhelming” evidence the 42-year-old tech entrepreneur and his three co-accused – Mathias Ortmann, Finn Batato and Bram van der Kolk – had criminal charges to face in the U.S. over their part in running file-sharing website Megaupload.
The extradition appeal is expected to run for eight weeks with, Mr Dotcom saying if he loses he will continue to use legal channels to fight extradition.
Justice Murray Gilbert, the New Zealand judge hearing the appeal, criticized Dotcom’s request for coming at the last-minute but said he’d let other media discuss it before making a decision, the National Business Review newspaper reported.
Over the past few days, Dotcom and his lawyer Ira Rothken had argued that the hearing should be streamed as it was a “public interest” case.
New Zealand prosecutors are representing the United States in the case, and reportedly said it was not appropriate to comment while the matter was before the courts. The US wants New Zealand to hand him over, along with three of his former co-workers.
Earlier this week, Dotcom’s lawyer Ron Mansfield said there were “unprecedented issues of public and worldwide interest” in the case and it should be broadcast with a ten-minute delay implemented to ensure sensitive details are censored all in a effort to enforce greater scrutiny upon U.S. efforts to try Dotcom for his part in illegal file sharing atop accusations of money laundering.
In a series of tweets Tuesday, Dotcom encouraged Hong Kong authorities to follow the livestream, claiming they will learn how the U.S. Department of Justice mishandled the case.
Paraded in front of media; left on a wet lawn in underpants; separated from a loved one; forced to delay having children – life for Mathias Ortman and Bram van der Kolk since their arrest on piracy charges alongside Kim Dotcom has been a living nightmare, their lawyer told the Auckland High Court on Monday morning.
Mr Dotcom’s lawyers argued Megaupload was set up as a legitimate file-storing site, and there were a large number of people who were using it for that goal.
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Another defence lawyer, Ron Mansfield, said there were “unprecedented issues of public and worldwide interest” raised by the case and added that coverage should not be limited to traditional media.
