The New Zealand Defence Force has filed a notice of appeal against the sentence handed down in a landmark Court Martial held at Linton Military Camp last month, where a soldier was convicted of attempted espionage.
The Director of Military Prosecutions was appealing the sentence to the Court Martial Appeal Court, arguing it was “manifestly inadequate”.
The soldier, whose name remains suppressed, was sentenced to two years’ detention at Burnham Military Camp and dismissed from the NZDF after pleading guilty to three charges: attempted espionage, accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose, and possession of objectionable material.
Justice Kevin Riordan, who presided over the Court Martial, said the soldier’s actions were naive but serious, noting that “there is no such thing as a non-serious act of espionage”.
The court acknowledged the soldier’s links to far-right groups and his expressed desire to defect in 2019, which led to a sting operation.
The soldier handed over sensitive information to a person who he thought was a foreign agent but was really part of the undercover sting.
Judge Kevin Riordan said the outcome of the court martial aimed to deter others from acting in a similar way. (Source: 1News)
Chief of Army Major General Rose King described the offending as “deplorable” and said it struck at the core of the NZDF’s oath of allegiance. She praised the efforts of New Zealand’s security agencies for preventing the material from reaching a foreign power.
As the appeal was now before the courts, the NZDF declined to comment further.
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