The Court Martial says the trial of a far-right soldier charged with espionage presents unprecedented matters, Marc Daalder reports
Court proceedings ahead of the trial of a New Zealand soldier who self-identified as a "Nazi" have been delayed twice as officials work through thorny national security issues.
Two pre-trial hearings which were meant to discuss a range of technical issues including name suppression for the soldier, who is facing four counts of espionage and 13 other charges, have been delayed. One, set for May 5, was rescheduled to July 5 at short notice. This proceeding was then cancelled at similarly short notice.
In response to questions from Newsroom, the registrar of the Court Martial said the delays were "necessary due to the existence of complex legal and procedural issues that need to be resolved before the key applications for orders at the pre-trial can be considered by the court".
"This is due, in part, to the implications of presenting evidence before the court which may give rise to concerns relating to the defence and security of New Zealand. Some of these matters have not been dealt with by any court in this country before."
The soldier is the first New Zealander to face charges of espionage.
The registrar also told Newsroom that a conference had been scheduled for the judge and lawyers for the Crown and the soldier to hash out the issues.
"These include orders sought by one or other of the parties for access to certain material, suppression of the identities of certain witnesses, the suppression of the nature of certain evidence and submissions; and the scope of open court rights in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Act 2011 and the Court Martial Act 2007."
Newsroom first reported that the soldier had been arrested in December of 2019. He was a member of a far-right group, Wargus Christi, and the founder of another defunct group, the Dominion Movement. Although the charges he is facing include "accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose", he was allowed continued access to the internet after his arrest.
During this time, he ran a racist Twitter account which referenced eugenics-based conspiracy theories for the racial origins of Jews, said gay people deserve to be punched and dismissed Māori people as savages. After a Wellington synagogue was vandalised with neo-Nazi graffiti, the man claimed without evidence that the synagogue members themselves were responsible.
In one tweet, the man wrote simply, "I'm racist". In another, he said he is a "Nazi".
A spokesperson for the Defence Force declined to comment at the time.
In March 2020, a confidential police document warning of financial transactions linked to the far right referenced payments to a pseudonym used by the soldier as worthy of suspicion.
The soldier's arrest marked him as the first in a handful of Defence Force-linked extremists. In June 2020, Newsroom reported that another far-right activist had been serving in the Army Reserves. A third anonymous individual who discussed launching terror cells in New Zealand claimed to be an ex-soldier as well.
In March, NZSIS director-general Rebecca Kitteridge said her agency was aware of trends overseas in which extremists have infiltrated law enforcement and the military and was on the lookout for similar behaviour here.
"NZSIS has very active engagement with a whole range of different government agencies, including the uniformed services. Those trends have been drawn to the attention right across government and we have a protective security group that provides help and assistance to make sure that those kinds of ideologies do not gain any kind of foothold in the New Zealand government," she said.
The soldier's next trial date is expected to be in early October.
