A soldier based at Linton in Palmerston North has been charged with spying, the Defence Force has confirmed.
The director of Military Prosecutions has laid 17 charges in the Court Martial of New Zealand against the soldier, who has name suppression.
The charges (some of which are alternative charges) are:
- Four charges of espionage
- Two charges of attempted espionage
- Two charges of possession of an objectionable publication
- Three charges of accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose
- One charge of doing an act likely to prejudice Service discipline or bring discredit on the Service
- One charge of negligently failing to perform a duty
- Four charges of failing to comply with written orders.
No date has yet been set for the hearing.
The Defence Force says as the matter is now before the court, it can make no further comment.
In December last year, a soldier was arrested at Linton amid suspicion of being part of a far-right extremist group.
The self-styled militant Christian brotherhood Wargus Christi had claimed online the arrested soldier was a member.
-RNZ
3 comments
Disgraceful
Posted on 26-11-2020 13:32 | By Yadick
How utterly disgraceful for a NZ Soldier to bring such disrespect upon his Queen and country whom he has taken an oath to dutifully and diligently serve. UTTER SHAME ON YOU and anyone else that is found to be criminally involved. Disgusting and appalling.
I wonder what info he was passing?
Posted on 26-11-2020 16:08 | By morepork
Our military instills fear in so many potential enemies, I'm sure they'd love to know how often we replace the rubber bands in our second-hand helicopters and whether or not our warship is carrying nuclear pavlovas... What will they do to him? (The Romans would have decimated the Regiment, but our Regiments are already decimated by lack of funds.) Make him stand in the corner until he's really truly sorry? It's good that they caught him; we don't need Fascist Extremists (Christian or otherwise), or any other kind of extremists in our military. As an ex-NZ Army soldier, I know we can be proud of our people. This one's an idiot and we won't miss having him protect us.
Keep calm folks........
Posted on 26-11-2020 21:22 | By groutby
.....at least for now until the 'facts' come out, the media and radical leftists are always ready to spin a story for far more than it's worth, so maybe a little patience will reveal more. At the moment, the accused is not charged with being a member of 'Wargus Christi' so let's not run into the street screaming 'far right wing' connections whilst grasping for any reason at all to see the guy hang (metaphorically). He is in the ranks and as such will have little knowledge of important information....that said, he has indeed sworn an illegiance to the crown and must be, and we must believe will be, accountable at trial.
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