After being found guilty of copyright offenses in connection with the operations of The Pirate Bay, site co-founder Peter Sunde should now be beginning an 8 month jail sentence in a Swedish prison. However, in a last-ditch attempt to maintain his freedom, Sunde has asked the Swedish government for clemency citing health and business concerns.

After a drawn-out process beginning with the police raids on The Pirate Bay in 2006, a trial and guilty verdicts in 2009, and subsequent appeals since, the time has now arrived for the founders of the site to serve their sentences.

For one, businessman Carl Lundström, the road ahead is certain. His sentence will be served electronically tagged in a Stockholm apartment. For three others – Peter Sunde, Gottfrid Svartholm and Fredrik Neik – questions remain.

Peter Sunde was scheduled to begin his 8 month jail sentence in the Västervik Norra facility Wednesday, but at least for now that won’t be going ahead. Sunde has filed a plea with the Swedish government requesting clemency, citing health concerns and fears for his fledgling micro-payment business, Flattr.

“The idea for the company came from Peter himself, and he has a tremendous commitment to it,” Sunde’s representative writes in the request filed with the Department of Justice.

It is the recognizable name and reputation of the 33-year-old, the plea continues, that has enabled Flattr to gain traction in the market, a personal presence the company will need to maintain in order to continue moving forward.

“Peter’s name and reputation in the industry will open many doors. The company has received a substantial amount of risk capital which has mostly been used to develop the product. After about two years development, the product is now basically ready to begin shipping to partners and large sites. A prerequisite for further development is that Peter is left on the company,” the plea concludes.

Sunde adds that if the authorities can’t see their way to a full pardon, a delay before he has to serve his sentence would be the next best thing. The specific nature of his health concerns have not been detailed publicly.

Site co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm was previously ordered to spend 1 year in Mariefred prison roughly 65 km from Stockholm. His sentence was due to begin January 2nd 2012 but he became untraceable. A new deadline of April 18th was set for Svartholm to hand himself in but that date came and went with no further news.

In addition to prison sentences there is also the outstanding issues of damages. Recently it was revealed that the compensation amount the Pirate Bay founders are required to hand over to the movie and recording company plaintiffs has been growing steadily. Due to interest being added since May 2006, as of February 2012 the amount owed had jumped from roughly $6.9 million dollars to nearly $11 million.