Dotcom’s Bid to Halt Extradition Hearing Fails, Defense Begins

[Ernesto]

It was an extremely long road up until that point, with multiple successive delays hindering progress, but last month saw Kim Dotcom’s extradition hearing finally get underway.

The hearing was expected to take around four weeks but earlier this month it became clear progress would not be so swift. After the U.S. had made its case to extradite Dotcom and former colleagues Mathias Ortmann, Finn Batato and Bram van der Kolk, the defendants repeatedly claimed that the hearing was unfair.

The United States had done everything possible to stop the quartet from mounting a proper defense, they argued, so the whole thing should be paused or even thrown out altogether following submissions to that effect.

The hearing was due to end on October 16, despite Dotcom being absent due to pain from an existing bad injury. That didn’t happen and today the court revealed that efforts to have the hearing thrown out had failed.

In a ruling released today, Judge Nevin Dawson said he would not hear full argument of the applications to have the extradition hearing brought to a close.

The defense wanted to show that the New Zealand government had acted illegally when they arrested Dotcom in 2012 but that was disallowed. The Judge gave no reasons why, only indicating he would reveal all when the hearing was completed.

As a result the defense will now begin stating its case on Monday but that hasn’t stopped a clearly irritated Dotcom airing his opinions in public.

“We will identify why the United States case is flawed. Sadly because of the limited focus of such an extradition hearing I can’t call the required and planned expert evidence to simply answer the incorrect factual assertions by the United States. The United States won’t permit [experts] to be paid,” Dotcom explained.

“The case will now turn on important legal argument. We outline this on Monday. However, when we enter the ring we do so to win. The obstacles the United States has put up to stop us from fighting back won’t stop us. We won’t be silenced by bullies!”

Dotcom’s entire future could hang on the outcome of this extradition hearing. If extradited and found guilty in the United States, he and his co-defendants face the possibility of decades in jail. Nevertheless, Dotcom seems up for the fight.

“I wish you could all be at my court hearing on Monday. It’s going to be good,” he concludes.

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Originally Published: Thu, 29 Oct 2015 09:10:14 +0000
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[dolly_cat]

I was 100% sure that this was going to happen. Anyway, I don't care about Dotcom...

[RobertX]

I did like Megaupload. It was easy to use, and you almost don't have to pay.

What is your reason for character assassinating Dotcom?

[stormium]

that is not a character assassination, and even if it was... it's not open for discussion since the topic of this thread is regarding dotcom's extradition.

if you've been following this aspect of his story, you've probably slapped yourself a few times. this sums it up:

"The court agreed with a previous ruling that extensive disclosure could bog down the process and a summary of the US case would suffice. The court found the country’s extradition act does not require foreign countries to provide such disclosure."

that means that the list of evidence supporting dotcom's and his three alleged co-conspirators extradition will not be made entirely available to the defense team fighting the extradition since it could slow down the hearing... and also since foreign governments attempting to arrest people in new zealand don't have to provide evidence... i'm unclear if that applies to in part or its entirety.

so, in summary...

you are in new zealand and the u.s. government decides that it wants to extradite you, and you decide to fight the extradition... the u.s. has list of evidence that they supply to the court... the court says that you aren't allowed to see the list because that will slow down the hearing... also, since the u.s. is not under the jurisdiction of new zealand, they aren't obligated to disclose the evidence anyway. so... you are kinda fucked.

also, keep in mind that what i just posted is a tiny little piece of a hearing tied to the extradition hearing... there's so much more to it that it boggles the mind that courts of law would operate in this manner.

well, no. i take that back. what surprises me is that they would make it so publicly available and transparent. i'm just surprised that they didn't state the reason for such ass-hattery to be tied to national security cuz the guy looks like goldfinger.

lot's of sources, here's one: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/ma...n-evidence

[RobertX]

Sorry for my mistakes.