"I think that some kind of criminal punishment was appropriate in this case. Swartz had announced his commitment to violating the law as a moral imperative in o

"I think that some kind of criminal punishment was appropriate in this case. Swartz had announced his commitment to violating the law as a moral imperative in order to effectively nullify existing federal laws on access to information." This seems to be the going mistake. I can understand if someone has the opinion that the case should be tried in court or even that the charges were correct. But stating that someone should be punished based on their previous statements is dangerously close to political repression.