Police Describe Role in Swede’s Hacking Trial

A police official on Wednesday detailed his department’s cooperation with Swedish and Danish authorities to collect evidence from Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm’s life in Cambodia. The evidence is currently being used in Svartholm’s ongoing hacking trial in Denmark.

Lieutenant General Chhay Sinarith, deputy director-general of the National Police and director of the internal security department, said his officers shot video of Mr. Svartholm’s Phnom Penh apartment that was provided to both Swedish and Danish police.

“We shot video of the place where he stayed and what he did there during his life in Cambodia,” Lt. Gen. Sinarith said of Mr. Svartholm’s apartment above Cadillac restaurant on Sisowath Quay.

Mr. Svartholm had been hiding out in Cambodia since 2009, when he was found guilty in Sweden of promoting copyright infringement. In 2012, he was arrested in Phnom Penh by Cambodian police and subsequently deported to Sweden to serve a one-year prison term there.

Now, details of Mr. Svartholm’s life in Cambodia are being used as character evidence in his trial in Denmark, where he stands accused of hacking computer mainframes operated by U.S. technology giant CSC, according to TorrentFreak, an online publication dedicated to news about copyright, privacy and file-sharing.

Lt. Gen. Sinarith said that at the time of Mr. Svartholm’s arrest, police confiscated a MacBook Pro laptop, three hard drives and three flash drives, but declined to discuss what were on the devices.

“It is very important evidence for incriminating him in Cambodia,” he said of the seized hardware.

narim@cambodiadaily.com

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