Press Release by Kim Dotcom – 20 July 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

You all know that, five years ago, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) broke the law and secretly intercepted my family's personal communications. I have been trying to get access to the intercepted communications – my communications – ever since.

The GCSB was forced to admit what it did and John Key to say sorry. But the reality is the GCSB didn't care. It didn't care about my family’s privacy when it violated it, just like it didn't care about the other 87 instances where it is known to have done the same thing. Because, after being caught, the GCSB has fought to keep what it did, and how, a secret from me and from you, the New Zealand public. Worse, it seeks to hide behind “national security” to keep the truth from us.

To keep this secret, the GCSB applied to the High Court. It filed secret evidence and secret submissions. The GCSB’s lawyers were heard in a “closed” court with the Judge, where they made secret submissions and secret witnesses gave secret evidence. My lawyers and the public were not allowed to be present at that hearing. When my lawyers were heard, after that hearing, they had to make submissions as to why information they were not allowed to see, for reasons they were not allowed to know, should be disclosed. They were effectively shooting at a moving target, in the dark, with one hand tied behind their backs.

On 14 July 2017, Justice Gilbert in the High Court found that my intercepted communications should not be disclosed to me: https://www.scribd.com/document/354218578/CIV-2013-404-2168-14-07-2017. He found this even though he accepted that there was no suggestion that I had been engaged in activities threatening national security, and even though he heard evidence from Glenn Greenwald that the intelligence community’s surveillance capabilities are largely in the public domain.

He considered this information was not relevant to my claim. He said my claim should not be a “means to facilitate debate as to whether the defendants or other agencies could engage in mass surveillance of members of the New Zealand public or whether they have done so on other occasions.”

It may surprise you that it is not relevant how and to what extent the GCSB broke the law and invaded my family’s privacy - not for New Zealand‘s national security but to assist the United States of America to extradite me.

It can't be right that there is one law for you and me and another for the Government. If I am to be tried in public for crimes I deny, the Government should be tried in public for what it has admitted it did to my family, and others. It could happen to you too if we let this go unchallenged.

I will appeal this judgment and ask the Court of Appeal to shine some cleansing sunlight on what happened here. If there is transparency, there is accountability, and we can prevent this happening again.

This is not just about me. This is about how safe we all are from unlawful surveillance and, when it happens, how we can ensure those responsible are held accountable. Right now, we can't. My lawyers and I will do what we can, up against the state and its resources, to change that.

There is a saying: who watches the watchmen? I will fight on, and keep asking this question, hopefully with your continued understanding and support.

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