Pirate Bay founder Gottfrid Svartholm will appeal the two-year jail sentence handed down to him last month following a prominent Swedish hacking trial. The 28-year-old was found guilty of compromising the mainframes of Logica, a company carrying out work for local tax authorities, but maintains his innocence. The prosecution has also filed an appeal in which it would argue for a longer prison term.

After serving a prison sentence for his involvement in The Pirate Bay, Gottfrid Svartholm stood trial again in May.

The prosecution accused the Pirate Bay founder of hacking the mainframes of Logica, a Swedish IT company working with local tax authorities.

Much of the evidence presented in court was obtained from a computer that was seized from Gottfrid’s apartment in Cambodia, where he was detained last year. This evidence linked the computer to the hacks, but in his defense Gottfrid said that others must have gained access to his equipment.

After a two-week trial the Nacka District Court handed down its verdict last month.

The Court held Gottfrid responsible for hacking, aggravated fraud and attempted aggravated fraud, and sentenced him to two years in prison. His 36-year-old accomplice was sentenced to probation.

The Court said that it had found the prosecution’s case against Gottfrid and his accomplice convincing. Among other things it ruled out the possibility that a third-party could have carried out the hacking from the defendants’ computers.

The sentence was not the outcome the 28-year-old was hoping for, and today it was announced that Gottfrid will fight the decision at the Court of Appeal.

Kristina Svartholm, Gottfrid’s mother, hopes that the appeal court will examine the evidence in more detail.

“The important thing is to get the higher court to try the evidence in-depth, something that the lower court definitively didn’t do,” Kristina tells TorrentFreak.

“Gottfrid and the other defendant were lumped together in an unfair way, I think. Also, the claim that he must prove that his alternative explanation is plausible must be highlighted, it is contrary to any sense of justice in my opinion,” she adds.

The prosecution also appealed the verdict and will be seeking a longer prison sentence. No schedule has been set for the appeal but the case is expected to be heard in the coming months.

If Gottfrid is found not guilty by the Appeal Court his troubles are likely to continue abroad. Last month a Swedish court ruled that he can also be extradited to Denmark where he is accused of hacking into the mainframes of CSC, a Danish IT company working with the Government.