Pirate Bay co-founder has his Swedish passport restored

Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik "tiamo" Neij has just won a court case this week in Göteborg, Sweden, restoring his passport.

The controversial Swedish developer previously had his passport revoked by the Swedish Embassy in Bangkok, the nearest diplomatic presence to where he lives in neighboring Laos. He also co-founded the PRQ web hosting service, which was raided earlier this month, although he officially is no longer affiliated with it.

In early August 2012, Neij submitted a protest to the embassy, arguing that he needed the passport so he could travel to Thailand and be present with his Thai wife as she delivered their third child.

As a result of the Pirate Bay verdict handed down in 2010 and upheld by a Swedish court, Neij still has a prison sentence and a hefty fine against him in Sweden. As we reported earlier this week, Neij had argued to Swedish authorities that this verdict did not warrant a revocation of his passport.

"[The court] said that the embassy hadn’t given enough of a reason, so Mr. Neij could defend himself and understand why they wanted to withdraw his passport," Jonas Nilsson, Neij’s attorney in Göteborg, told Ars on Saturday.

Nilsson declined to speculate as to where Neij might travel or whether the Swedish government would appeal the decision.