New Zealand’s military said on Friday it had appealed a two year sentence for a soldier accused of attempted espionage, describing it as “manifestly inadequate”.
The soldier, whose name has been temporarily suppressed, admitted to attempted espionage, accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose and knowingly possessing an objectionable publication.
A military court sentenced him last month to two years’ detention for attempting to spy for a foreign power — the first spying conviction in New Zealand’s history.
The name of the country the soldier had attempted to defect to is permanently suppressed.
“The Director of Military Prosecutions is appealing on the basis the Court Martial’s sentence is manifestly inadequate,” the country’s Defence Force said in a statement on Friday.
The soldier had remained on full pay since his arrest in December 2019, spending all but six days under what the New Zealand Defence Force called open arrest on the Linton Military Base near Palmerston North.
The soldier will be paid at half his previous rate until his dismissal from the military at the end of his sentence.
During sentencing, Chief Judge Kevin Riordan admitted he and the panel of military members tasked with setting a sentence fretted over how a sentence of military detention would be perceived, given it is widely considered to be easier than civilian prison.
The military panel determined a starting point of between three and a half and four years prison, with deductions for the man’s guilty plea and time spent under open arrest.
“We spent more time over this decision than any other,” Riordan said.
The panel decided military detention was appropriate given the rehabilitation it would provide.
Crown lawyer Grant Burston had earlier told the court the soldier’s sentence should start at between 4.5 and five years in prison.
“There is no apology,” Burston said, referencing the soldier’s affidavit, which was read to the court.
“There is just expressed regret and a well-established expression of grievance.
“There is no remorse for betraying… his country.”
In an affidavit written by the soldier and read out by his lawyer in court, the soldier admitted to being a member of extremist groups Action Zealandia and the Dominion Movement and described himself as a “proud New Zealander”.
The maximum sentence for attempted espionage under New Zealand law is seven years.
