A New Zealand Court has handed a series of basic rights to a man the US Government has described as an internet “scourge”.Under threat of extridition to the USA Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom from New Zealand has been told by a local judge that he can use the Internet as well as finish a music album he has been working on.
Dotcom will also be allowed to surf the web and swim daily to help ease back pain, after the North Shore District Court heard his application.
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Dotcom appealed to get his bail conditions modified so he could properly prepare his defense. His partners Mathias Ortmann, Bram Van Der Kolk, and Finn Batato were also at the hearing with similar requests. In the US, Dotcom is facing charges of racketeering, money-laundering, and multiple copyright infringement offenses related to his Megaupload file-sharing site.
The album was started before his arrest, and involves a few international artists and Dotcom himself as a musician. Judge David Harvey on Monday granted Dotcom 90 minutes of access to the swimming pool at his former mansion, Internet access, and two trips a week to Roundhead Studios in Auckland to finish the album.
The three other defendants are now allowed to visit Dotcom at his home for up to six hours a week to work on their defense.
The extradition hearing is scheduled for August.
