Aaron Swartz's family condemns MIT and US government after his death Aaron Swartz had been facing a trial over allegations of hacking related to the downloading of documents from JSTOR. Photograph: Fred Benenson /creativecommoners/flickr The family of celebrated internet activist Aaron Swartz has accused prosecutors and MIT officials of being complicit in his death, blaming the apparent suicide on the pursuit of a young man over "an alleged crime that had no victims." In a statement released late Saturday, Swartz's parents, Robert and Susan, siblings Noah and Ben and partner Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman said the Redditt builder's demise was not just a "personal tragedy" but "the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach." They also attacked the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for not supporting the internet activist in his legal battles and refusing to stand up for "its own community's most cherished principles." The comments came a day after the 26-year-old killed himself in his Brooklyn apartment on Friday night. News of his death resulted in an outpouring of tributes over the internet. Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the world wide web, tweeted: "Aaron dead. World wanderers, we have lost a wise elder. Hackers for right, we are one down. Parents all, we have lost a child. Let us weep. Swartz dedicated much of his time to fighting online censorship and his court case had become a cause célèbre for many similar-minded figures. The trial was due to begin next month. He faced 13 felony charges including computer and wire fraud. Prosecutors accused him of stealing millions of scientific journals from a computer archive at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and making them freely available. If convicted he could have faced decades behind bars, alongside a fortune in fines. A spokeswoman for the US attorney's office in Massachusetts said it was inappropriate to comment on the case at this time. Meanwhile MIT said a statement would be made by the institution's president later on Sunday. Prior to the MIT case, Swartz had aided in the release of court documents free of charge, rather than through the pay-per-download government website PACER. It is thought that a fifth of all data was made available through a programme Swartz wrote in 2008, before officials shut it down. The FBI investigated, but never charged Swartz over the PACER case. Alongside his activism, Swartz, a prodigious computer talent, helped create the RSS protocol which revloutionised content delivery across the web. He was also an early architect of Reddit, the popular social media platform. As news of Swartz's death spread online Saturday, numerous tributes were posted. The author and web expert Cory Doctorow, who was a friend of Swartz, posted an article on BoingBoing. In their tribute, Swartz's family wrote that the internet activist had left behind gifts that "made the world, and our lives, far brighter." They added: "He used his prodigious skills as a programmer and technologist not to enrich himself but to make the Internet and the world a fairer, better place. His deeply humane writing touched minds and hearts across generations and continents. His funeral is due to take place on Tuesday in Illinois.