This soldier admitted three charges relating to espionage at a court martial on Monday. Photo: Manawatū Standard/Adele Rycroft
A soldier with links to far-right groups has admitted handing over and attempting to hand over sensitive military information to a person he thought was a foreign agent.
But the soldier was actually caught in an undercover sting.
He also possessed a video of the 2019 Christchurch Mosque attacks and the mosque attacker's manifesto, The Great Replacement.
At a court martial at Linton Military Camp near Palmerston North today, the soldier, whose name is suppressed on a temporary basis, admitted one charge each of attempted espionage, dishonestly accessing a computer system and possessing an objectionable publication.
The name of the foreign country the undercover agent said they were representing is suppressed.
The charges
The attempted espionage charge dates to between 5 and 12 December 2019 when the soldier attempted to hand information to the undercover agent he thought represented a foreign country.
That information was likely to prejudice the security and defence of New Zealand, according to the wording of the charge.
The soldier handed over phone directories for Linton Military Camp, Burnham Military Camp, Trentham Military Camp and the Hokowhitu campus in Palmerston North, as well as for the Messines Defence Centre. The latter document is classified.
He also attempted to hand over maps and an annotated photo of Linton Military camp; a document setting out Linton's security vulnerabilities; his own ID card; access codes and information allowing for unauthorised access to Linton and Ohakea air base; and his name and passwords, which allowed unauthorised access to the Defence Force system.
On 12 December, 2019, the soldier access this system for dishonest reasons.
He obtained property, maps, images and phone directories. This includes a map and phone directory of Woodbourne air base; a map of an ammunition depot at Kauri Point, Auckland; an aerial photo of a navy ship; and aerial photos and a phone directory from Whenuapai air base in Auckland.
On 16 December that year he possessed a recording of the Christchurch mosque attack, which is a restricted publication, and The Great Replacement.
First of its kind
This is the first military prosecution for espionage or attempted espionage. Fifty years ago, in the civilian court, Bill Sutch was acquitted on charges relating to his alleged passing of information to the Russians.
In late 2020, 17 charges under the Armed Forces Discipline Act were laid against the soldier, including espionage and possessing objectionable material. A long period of pre-trial hearings then followed.
The 17 charges were withdrawn in March and replaced with the three charges the soldier initially admitted in March, before confirming those pleas before Judge Kevin Riordan and a military panel today.
The military panel accepted the guilty pleas and will decide the soldier's sentence.
RNZ has previously reported the soldier, aged 27 at the time of his arrest, was a member of far-right groups the Dominion Movement and Action Zealandia.
Undercover sting
When the soldier moved into his home at Linton Military Camp he found a bag that included classified information.
The solder in 2019 came to the attention of authorities for reasons including his desire to defect.
After the Christchurch mosque attacks the police spoke to the soldier twice about his involvement in the New Zealand identitarian movement, which is concerned with preserving white European identity.
He denied the group was anything other than a community-based organisation.
He was contacted by an undercover officer purporting to represent the foreign country on 20 November and the pair met the next day.
The soldier handed over a document he was asked to prepare outlining how he could help the foreign country.
At the undercover agent's request he sent a further document on 23 November with more information about how he could help.
The agent contacted him three days later asking he prepare documents for them and on 28 November he handed over Defence Force material and a handbook.
He said he could get further documents, such as maps and photos.
The agent and the soldier spoke more on 2 December and on 5 December he handed over the phone directories, then in coming days attempted to hand over further information.
'No more than groups of friends'
In a statement read to the court by the soldier's lawyer Steve Winter, the soldier admitted he was involved in nationalist groups Action Zelandia and the Dominion Movement.
"Both of these groups are no more than groups of friends with similar points of view to my own," the soldier said.
"Both of these groups were a positive experience for me. We tried to support each other in a social environment."
The soldier described the groups as "edgy", and said they used "provocative" terminology. Their members were isolated and lonely, but found a community.
He said they were not terrorist groups, did not target anyone and did not spread propaganda. They did have group days, where activities included boxing. They did not do anything like military training.
"I'm a proud New Zealander. That's why I joined the army."
The groups wound down when they ran their courses.
Found in possession of the Christchurch mosque attack video, the soldier said he did not support the terrorist's ideology and the attack shocked and confused him.
Later, when Action Zelandia and the Dominion Movement were investigated by police, the soldier was subject to aggressive investigation and questioning, he said.
"I was terrified. I was in well above my head."
Talk of defecting came when he said he feared for his safety in New Zealand.
He said he had not had anything to do with the groups since he was charged and wished he had never joined them.
"I've put myself and my family at risk. That was not something that occurred to me at the time."
Since he was charged the soldier said he had been subjected to harassment - someone had tried to kick his door down, and knock him off his bike when he was riding with a young child.
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