US wins appeal in battle to extradite Kim Dotcom

US prosecutors won a court victory in New Zealand yesterday in their battle to extradite Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom and three colleagues accused of facilitating massive copyright fraud through the now-defunct online file-sharing site.

The appeals court overturned an earlier ruling that would have allowed Dotcom, a former Hong Kong resident, and the others broad access to evidence in the case against them at the time of their extradition hearing, which is scheduled for August. The appeals court ruled that extensive disclosure would bog down the process and that a summary of the US case would suffice.

Dotcom said he was innocent and could not be held responsible for those who used his site to illegally download songs or films. US prosecutors are also seeking the extraditions of Finn Batato, Mathias Ortmann and Bram van der Kolk, each of whom held senior positions at Megaupload before the US shut it last year.

Paul Davison, one of Dotcom's lawyers, said he planned to appeal in New Zealand's Supreme Court. Dotcom's legal team must first submit an application to the court, which will then decide whether an appeal has enough merit to proceed.

In its ruling, the appeals court found that full disclosure of evidence was not necessary at the extradition hearing because the hearing was not the venue to determine guilt or innocence. The court pointed out that the legal obligation on the US is simply to prove it has a valid case to answer.

Davison said he was disappointed by the ruling. He said it was vital that Dotcom got access to a wide range of documents including those that could be detrimental to the US case. He said that would help prove there was no merit to the case.

The extradition hearing for the four colleagues has already been postponed from March to August due to the legal wrangling, and could be postponed further should the Supreme Court decide to hear the next planned appeal.

Dotcom remains free on bail pending the hearing.