Clemency petition for Silk Road’s Ross Ulbricht hits 55,000 signatures after Twitter pleas

A
photo of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht who sentenced to life in
prison May 29, 2015.
Screenshot

• Ross Ulbricht was sentenced to life in prison in 2015
  after being convicted of running the dark web marketplace Silk
  Road.
• His family have set up the twitter account @RealRossU,
  which relays messages Ulbricht dictates from prison.
• The account has helped get over 55,000 signatures for a
  petition asking for clemency for Ulbricht.
• His supporters argue Silk Road was no different to eBay
  and it’s not his fault that people used it to sell
  drugs.

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road,
is dictating messages from prison that his family are delivering
to the outside world via Twitter.

The Twitter account @RealRossU was opened in June
and sent its first tweet on July 19. The tweet linked to a handwritten note posted
on FreeRoss.org, a website run by “family, friends and
supporters” of Ulbricht. The note said that the fact it was
posted on FreeRoss.org proved its authenticity. Since then, the
account has said Ulbricht is dictating his tweets over the phone
to supporters.

“I’m hoping this will help me stay connected to the outside,” the
first tweet read.

Ulbricht, 34, is
serving a life sentence after being convicted in 2015 of running
Silk Road, a marketplace on the dark web that became
synonymous with the illegal drug trade. At its height,
the marketplace was estimated to have sales of $30 million to $45
million a year. The bulk of business on the site is believed
to have been drug-related.

Ulbricht, who used the alias Dread Pirate Roberts
(a reference to the cult movie “The
Princess Bride“) on Silk Road, was arrested
by the FBI at a public library in San Francisco in October 2013.

@RealRossU has posted 19 tweets since it was set up, covering
everything from the joy of getting visits in prison, his workout
routine, and forgiving the judge who sentenced him to life in
jail. The account has attracted over 18,000 followers.

Ulbricht’s
parents Lyn and Kirk talking to journalists during their son’s
trial in 2015.

REUTERS/Nate
Raymond

The account’s activation coincided with the creation of a
petition calling for clemency for Ulbricht. It was set up by
Ross’s mother, Lyn Ulbricht, who runs the FreeRoss.org website.

“This is a sentence that shocks the conscience,” the petition
reads. “The website Silk Road was an e-commerce platform similar
to eBay, where individual users chose what to list for sale. Both
legal and illegal items were sold, most commonly small amounts of
cannabis.

“Ross is condemned to die in prison, not for dealing drugs
himself but for a website where others did. This is far
harsher than the punishment for many murderers, paedophiles,
rapists and other violent people.”

As of Friday afternoon,
the Change.org petition has gained over 55,000 signatures.

A handwritten note from Ulbricht written on Wednesday and posted
late on Thursday by the @RealRossU account said: “I’m blown away
by the outpouring of love and support you’ve shown me the past
few weeks.

“With you behind me, I have hope that the petition will keep
growing and we will get the President’s attention.”