Eccentric Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom has won a major court battle today in his ongoing fight against his extradition from New Zealand to the US.
The German-born founder of filesharing site Megaupload won a case in New Zealands Human Rights Review Tribunal on privacy grounds after a request he made for information the government held on him was denied by the attorney general.
The judgment said that Dotcom's privacy was interfered with by the state and awarded him damages of 90,000 New Zealand dollars (£46,000).
Dotcom described the judgment on twitter as a “Big Win” and said “This is a great victory. I am really happy”.
Big Win JUDGEMENT:
Attorney General of New Zealand broke the law by withholding information Im legally entitled to.
The Government & Ministers are ordered to comply with my requests and provide all documents.
Damages for loss of benefit and loss of dignity are rewarded to me.
— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) March 26, 2018
He also argued that his tribunal victory meant that his long-running fight against extradition had come to an end.
“What does the Human Rights Tribunal Judgement mean for my Extradition case? It is OVER! By unlawfully withholding information that could have helped my case the former Attorney General of New Zealand has perverted the course of Justice,” he said.
Dotcom faces charges of fraud in the US which has been trying to extradite him from New Zealand since his arrest in 2012.
Read more: "Weirdest Xmas ever" as Kim Dotcom faces extradition
Megaupload was a filesharing site which ran between 2005 and 2012 until its seizure by US authorities.
Dotcom has denied the charges and argued that as he had neither visited, worked or had a company based in the US he should not be extradited there.
[contf] [contfnew] 
CityAM
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
