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Pirate Bay file-sharing site founder Gottfrid Svartholm Warg arrested in Cambodia

 

Paul Cahalan
Monday 03 September 2012 13:28 BST
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Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (left): The Pirate Bay founder had failed to appear in court
Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (left): The Pirate Bay founder had failed to appear in court (Getty Images)

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The co-founder of a controversial file-sharing website on the run from Swedish authorities has been arrested in Cambodia.

Gottfrid Svartholm Warg, 27, was detained in Phnom Penh on Thursday, local police announced.The reason for his arrest is believed to be related to his website The Pirate Bay, which allowed millions of people globally to download files, music and films.

In April, an international warrant for Warg's arrest was issued by his native Sweden after he failed to appear to serve a one-year sentence for copyright infringements.

Warg and the site's other co-founders were convicted by a Swedish court in 2009 of encouraging copyright violations.

The three had their one-year jail terms reduced on appeal but were ordered to pay nearly $7m (£4m) in damages for copyright infringement to music and movie companies.

Warg failed to attend the appeal hearing due to an illness and failed to appear at a follow-up hearing, prompting the Court of Appeal to enact an initial verdict of a one-year jail sentence and a fine of $1.1m.

Warg, who has lived in Phnom Penh for several years, had been due to return to Sweden to start serving his sentence in January this year but again he failed to appear.

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