'The government killed my son': Father of Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz speaks out at his son's funeral and claims he was 'hounded' to his death

Internet activist Swartz, 26, committed suicide on January 11 at his Brooklyn home as he faced 30 years in jail

The internet activist faced decades in prison over hacking charges for allegedly downloading more than four million academic journals

His funeral was held Tuesday morning in Chicago

Speaking during the service, Robert Swartz accused the Government of 'hounding' his son



Loss: Reddit co-founder Aaron Swartz, 26, who faced 35 years in prison over wire fraud charges at MIT, took his own life at his Brooklyn home on January 11

Internet activist Aaron Swartz's father told his son's suburban Chicago funeral that the Reddit co-founder was ‘killed by the government.’



The 26-year-old was found dead of an apparent suicide in his New York apartment Friday. His funeral was Tuesday morning at the Central Avenue Synagogue in his home town of Highland Park, Illinois.

Swartz was facing a potentially lengthy prison sentence after being indicted in Boston in 2011 for allegedly gaining access to academic articles from a computer archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The charges carried a maximum penalty of decades in prison.



Echoing the sentiments of the family's previous statements about the tragedy, Robert Swartz said during the service that his son was ‘hounded’ by the government.



Spokeswoman Christina DiIorio-Sterling in Boston says U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz has no comment about Robert Swartz's remarks.

Swartz was charged last September with wire fraud, computer fraud and unlawfully obtaining information from a protected computer after he allegedly tried to steal millions of scholarly papers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in January 2011.



It is thought that the stress and strain of the looming federal trial contributed to the depression which is being blamed for Swartz taking his own life on January 11 at his Brooklyn, New York apartment.

Swartz's lawyer had originally approached federal prosecutors in fall 2012 about a deal and was turned down.



Then just two days before he committed suicide, another plea deal was turned down by federal prosecutors.



Elliot Peters, Swartz's lawyer, spoke to the Massachusetts attorney's office on January 9 to see if a plea bargain could be reached that would reduce prison time and $1million fines that the 26-year-old was facing.



Aaron Swartz's casket is wheeled to a hearse outside a synagogue in Highland Park, Illinois, at his funeral on Tuesday

However Peters told the WSJ that Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Heymann was adamant that Swartz must plead guilty to every count and jail time would be required.

Swartz's distraught family has blamed MIT and federal prosecutors for his death.

In an earlier statement, Swartz's loved ones had claimed the Boston attorney's office had pursed an 'exceptionally harsh array of charges' for a supposed crime that had no victims, and MIT refused to stand up for Swartz or it's own 'cherished principles'.

'Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy,' his family and the 26-year-old's partner Taren Stinebricker-Kaufmann, wrote.

'It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death.'

In a Boston court on Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Heymann and colleague Carmen Ortiz filed to dismiss the charges against Swartz. T he case was dismissed because of Swartz's death, such filings are routine when a defendant dies before trial.

Tragic end: Aaron Swartz, a programmer and Internet activist who co-founded a company that would eventually grow into Reddit, committed suicide Friday in New York City

Remorse: MIT president L Rafael Reif said he was pained to think that the school had any role in Swartz's tragic death

Defiance: Anonymous publicizes the move by hundreds of academics to post their copyright-protected articles online for free following the suicide of Internet activist Aaron Swartz

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's president spoke on Monday of his sadness over Swartz's suicide and said there would be 'thorough analysis' into the school's role in the federal case against the 26-year-old computer programmer.



MIT president L. Rafael Reif said: 'I want to express very clearly that I and all of us at MIT are extremely saddened by the death of this promising young man, who touched the lives of so many.

'It pains me to think that MIT played any role in a series of events that have ended in tragedy.'

The statement came as hundreds of academics posted links to copyright-protected journals online in tribute to internet activist Swartz.

The movement appears to have started on Swartz's own site Reddit and was echoed by Anonymous on Twitter, who wrote: 'Please share: Academics posting their papers online in tribute to Aaron Swartz using hashtag #pdftribute #ICYMI.'

Even officials at JSTOR - an archive of academic journals to which universities, including MIT, pay large amounts of money for access - slammed the harsh tactics of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston.

Swartz's family described him as 'extraordinary and irreplaceable.' They said his 'insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable' made the world and their lives far brighter.'



Sources claim Aaron Swartz was found hanging near his bedroom window, sources in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York said. The death was pronounced as a suicide by the city's medical examiner

Intimidated: The family of Aaron Swartz, left, and his partner Taren Stinebricker-Kaufmann, right, blame MIT and federal prosecutors for his death

'AARON'S DEATH IS NOT JUST A PERSONAL TRAGEDY': FAMILY CLAIM 'EXTRAORDINARY' WEB PIONEER WAS BULLIED BY AUTHORITIES

Our beloved brother, son, friend, and partner Aaron Swartz hanged himself on Friday in his Brooklyn apartment. We are in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing. Aaron's insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable - these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter. We're grateful for our time with him, to those who loved him and stood with him, and to all of those who continue his work for a better world. Aaron's commitment to social justice was profound, and defined his life. He was instrumental to the defeat of an Internet censorship bill; he fought for a more democratic, open, and accountable political system; and he helped to create, build, and preserve a dizzying range of scholarly projects that extended the scope and accessibility of human knowledge. He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a fairer, better place. His deeply humane writing touched minds and hearts across generations and continents. He earned the friendship of thousands and the respect and support of millions more. Aaron's death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney's office and at MIT contributed to his death. The US Attorney's office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, carrying potentially over 30 years in prison, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims. Meanwhile, unlike JSTOR, MIT refused to stand up for Aaron and its own community's most cherished principles. Today, we grieve for the extraordinary and irreplaceable man that we have lost.





VIDEO Swartz passionately defended right to internet freedom