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 thousands of police officers and also infiltrating a IT system used across the Schengen zone*.

With a balding head and a straggly hipster beard, Warg is the most recognisable face of the four men alleged to be leaders of the Pirate Bay. He was arrested in his adopted home of Cambodia last year and sent home to the country of his birth, Sweden.

The 28-year-old is currently languishing in prison serving a one-year jail sentence that he incurred when he was convicted in Sweden in 2009 of copyright infringement in a case involving the three other alleged TPB leaders.

Earlier this year, in June 2013, in an unrelated case, Warg was handed a two-year sentence for hacking the IT firm Logica and Nordea bank, but this was slashed to one year following an appeal which cleared the 28-year old of all charges relating to the hacking of Nordea's computer systems. The appeals court said it was impossible to prove he had hacked into the bank's mainframe.

But his joy may have been short-lived, as he is due to be packed off to Denmark.

In his open letter, a translated version of which has been published on news site Torrent Freak, Svartholm raises two points. The Pirate Bay boss claimed that he had not been told exactly what crimes he is accused of – and further claimed he was unable to read the warrant, which was written in Danish.

Svartholm also said that it was not clear whether he was being tried for the same charges he had already been tried for in Sweden.

He wrote:

Before any extradition it must be determined whether an earlier indictment against me for hacking and fraud/attempted fraud against the Danish Nordea is considered as an indictment of the ‘same offense’ or not. Here are additional facts emerged since the warrant was issued:

I was cleared of suspicion as above by the Court of Appeals (Svea Hovrätt) on 25 September 2013. 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.

Liability was thus tried in Sweden for something that very closely matches what Denmark wants to hold me responsible for. It must be investigated whether this act should be considered ‘the same offense’ or not.

Svartholm said that if these two points were not fully investigated, his deportation could "be contrary to international law and what is to be guaranteed by the European Convention of 4 November 1950 on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms".

He has filed an appeal with the Swedish Supreme Court, beginning a drawn-out process which, even if unsuccessful, could significantly extend the time he has left in his home country. ®

* A group of 26 European nations which have agreed to drop passport and immigration controls at their borders.