With all the excitement over the launch of Mega, it’s easy to forget that Kim Dotcom is still facing extradition to the U.S. To fight this, Dotcom and his legal team argues that they need access to the evidence the U.S. will bring against them. Lower courts agreed with Dotcom, but the Court of Appeals didn’t buy the argument.
TorrentFreak reports that the Court of Appeals overturned the previous ruling that said the U.S. had to present all the evidence it had on Dotcom and his associates. In its ruling, the court says that evidence is not required in an extradition case because it’s not a trial over whether the party is innocent or guilty. Instead, the court said that the U.S. only has to prove that they have a case against Dotcom to move things forward.
It’s a pretty big setback for Dotcom, as he was hoping to get access to all the evidence the U.S. has against him. Dotcom isn’t giving up, however, and plans to bring his case before the Supreme Court.
NZ Court rulings on discovery: 2 (yes) vs 1 (no). The fight goes on. Next is the Supreme Court of New Zealand.
Am I disappointed about the ruling today? YES. Do “good faith” & “US govt” go together? NO. Will I sleep like an innocent baby tonight? YES.
For the next installment in the long running Dotcom legal battle, we’re going to have to wait for word from the Supreme Court. If it picks up the case, we can expect to see Dotcom’s already delayed extradition trial delayed even further. If the court doesn’t agree to hear the case, Dotcom’s extradition trial will go on as planned in August. Either way, it’s going to be interesting.