NZ judge: Our spies surveilled Kim Dotcom for 2 months longer than admitted
"The US extradition case is dying. And someone is going to pay for this mess."
According to the New Zealand Herald, a New Zealand High Court judge revealed on Friday that the country’s signals intelligence agency, known as the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) illegally spied on Kim Dotcom for two months longer than previously admitted.
Then-Prime Minister John Key apologized to the Megaupload founder back in 2012 for the operation. Under the law at the time, permanent residents like Dotcom were not to be subjected to surveillance by the country’s foreign-looking agency. If the revelation is borne out, it would mean that GCSB continued to spy on Dotcom even after the agency was made aware that the surveillance was illegal. Prime Minister Bill English has not responded to media requests for comment.
Shortly after NZ media reported the court's judgement, Dotcom tweeted:
Quote:
Kim Dotcom ✔ @KimDotcom
My lawyers filed a silver bullet with the High Court yesterday. The US extradition case is dying. And someone is going to pay for this mess.
6:35 PM - 21 Jul 2017
As Ars has reported, Dotcom, who has been an NZ permanent resident since November 2010, has been fighting American criminal copyright charges for years. His legal team have fought tenaciously since 2012, delaying his extradition hearings several times. More than five years ago, New Zealand authorities, acting on the orders of American prosecutors—swept in to arrest him and conduct a raid, replete with two police helicopters, on the Dotcom mansion. The operation was conducted the same day that an American criminal complaint was unsealed against Dotcom and his colleagues.
In February 2017, another NZ High Court judge ruled that Dotcom could be extradited to the United States—a decision that will likely continue to be appealed for years.
Separately, Dotcom is also fighting the American government’s efforts to seize via civil forfeiture a slew of high-valued items that it says were procured via illegal means. In 2016, Dotcom lost his appeal at the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court is currently evaluating his final appeal and has not yet said whether it will hear the case.
