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TPB/PP: One Step Forward, One Step Back

A (conditional) victory and a (possible) setback.

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BRUXELLES/STOCKHOLM (Rixstep) — The EU parliament voted through a resolution demanding full transparency in ACTA and the Swedish Reinfeldt government are trying to delay the appeals case of The Pirate Bay until after the national elections in September.

The Swedish appeals court (Svea hovrätt) have preliminarily set aside nine court days beginning in the last week of September 2010 - right after the national elections. According to magistrate Ulrika Ihrfelt, all legal representatives have now approved the schedule. Yet the defendants have still not been asked.

'One doesn't usually ask defendants in a criminal case if they can attend', says Ihrfelt. 'We just summon them. And if they claim they can't attend, then we look further into the matter.'

Former TPB spokesperson Peter Sunde says none of the four defendants can attend at the end of September and adds: 'who says these trials aren't political?'

Current Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and his government have been playing coy with the issue all along - the appeals trial was initially expected to be held over half a year ago. But Reinfeldt and his cohorts are aware they wouldn't have a chance of winning the elections in such case. They've already delayed the voting on other draconian acts demanded by the EU - thereby incurring heavy fines ultimately payed by Swedish taxpayers - for fear of the same.

Reinfeldt and his friends are also scared of having to deal with the Swedish Pirate Party in the new Swedish parliament after September. The party headed by Rick Falkvinge and represented in Brussels by Christian Engström are increasingly seen as the only honest party in the country. A new scandal could make the PP the largest political party in the country.

Christian Engström reports simultaneously on an important victory in the EU: through a lot of work behind the scenes, he and the Pirate Party group together with Nigel Farage have effected a deafening 633-13 win for transparency in ACTA.