This soldier admitted three charges relating to espionage at a court martial in August. Photo: Manawatū Standard/Adele Rycroft
The Defence Force is appealing against the sentence imposed on a soldier with links to far-right groups, who thought he was spying on New Zealand.
The soldier, whose name is for now suppressed, was sentenced to two years of military detention.
At a court martial hearing at Linton Military Camp, near Palmerston North, in August the soldier admitted charges of attempted espionage, dishonestly accessing a computer system and possessing objectionable material.
On Friday, the Defence Force confirmed its director of military prosecutions this week filed an appeal, saying the soldier's sentence was "manifestly inadequate".
The Defence Force said it couldn't comment further as the matter was before the courts.
In 2019, the soldier thought he was passing information to a foreign country, but he was actually dealing with an undercover New Zealand agent.
The soldier's application for permanent name suppression was denied by Judge Kevin Riordon at the court martial, but the solider cannot be named after his lawyers said they would appeal that ruling.
Links to extremist groups
The soldier was involved in nationalist groups Action Zealandia and the Dominion Movement, and came to the attention of authorities after the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks.
Due to the scrutiny he was under, he stated he wanted to defect. That was when the undercover agent contacted him, snaring him in their trap in late 2019.
After some back and forth the soldier handed over, or attempted to hand over, sensitive material such as maps of defence bases, his password to the Defence Force integrated exchange system and his ID card to the agent.
When the soldier's home was searched he was found in possession of a video of the Christchurch mosque attack and a copy of the attacker's manifesto.
The soldier said he kept them out of a sense of rebellion, because the government had ruled the video and manifesto illegal.
Apart from a few days in custody, the soldier was living under open arrest between late 2019 and his court martial hearing.
There, Judge Riordon said the sentence he and a military panel of three senior officers imposed aimed to deter others from acting in a similar way.
"The court considers your actions are demanding of strong denunciation," the judge told the soldier.
"There is no such thing as a non-serious act of espionage. There is no trivial act of espionage."
This was the first military prosecution for espionage or attempted espionage.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
