AN AUSTRALIAN HIGH COURT has released the sentencing remarks in an unprecedented closed-door trial of an intelligence officer, identified only as “Witness J”, who was convicted in 2019 of a crime that cannot be revealed.
The man, who is also known as “Prisoner
123458,” was given a jail sentence in November of 2019. His sentencing
came following a closed-door hearing, which was described by a judge as
“generally undesirable” and “unusual”. The very existence of the court
case
came to light only after Witness J filed a lawsuit against the jail in which he was being held, arguing that his treatment was substandard.
Witness J is believed
to be in his mid-30s and to have served for many years as an
intelligence officer in the Australian military, with a top secret
security clearance. He is also believed to have served in Iraq,
Afghanistan and East Timor with a distinguished service record. But he
drew the attention of counterintelligence investigators in 2018, while
undergoing a routine re-evaluation of his security clearance status.
During that time he was reportedly serving as a civilian in an
undisclosed country in Southeast Asia. This period, according to
reports, coincided with the deterioration of Witness J’s mental health.
Witness J was eventually jailed in
mid-May 2018 and spent a month in solitary confinement. He was then
placed in a high-security wing for serious sex offenders at the
Alexander Maconochie Centre prison in Canberra. This was not because he
was a sex offender, but because it was determined that he would be safer
there than in the other wings of the prison. In early 2019, Witness J
was sentenced in a closed-door trial, which was held under the secrecy
provisions of Australia’s 2004 National Security Information Act. He was
released from prison 15 months into his 24-month sentence, after
agreeing to plead guilty to security breaches.
Last week, the Supreme Court of the
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) released the sentencing remarks of
the judge in Witness J’s case, which had remained secret since November
of 2019. According
to ABC News, the remarks are heavily redacted in order to comply with
restrictions under the National Security Information Act. The redacted
document makes clear that Witness J faced a total of five charges.
However, the sentencing remarks make no mention of the nature of the
charges against him.
In his remarks, the judge in the case,
Justice John Burns, mentions that the court had been given a report by
Witness J’s doctor, which detailed his deteriorating mental state and
his depression. The judge goes on to explain that he took the doctor’s
report into account in sentencing Witness J. He argues, however, that
despite his illness, the accused was aware of his actions and
deliberately chose to conduct himself in a “grossly reckless” manner.
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