A pre-trial hearing is being held in closed court today in the case of the first soldier accused of espionage in the country's modern history.
The Linton-based soldier remains under military arrest after being taken into military custody over three years ago.
He's facing multiple charges of spying, as well as charges of being part of a white supremacy group and possessing a recording of the Christchurch mosque attack live stream.
A trial date is yet to be set after it was delayed in 2021.
The pre-trial hearing picks up from a hearing that was adjourned a year ago about what evidence needs to be disclosed to lawyers for the Crown and lawyers for the accused ahead of the trial.
Media attended the previous hearing briefly before being excluded because highly classified information was being discussed.
The pre-trial hearing has been delayed while the Court Martial waited for the arrival of specialised recording equipment from overseas.
These devices have since been prepared to meet the country's security requirements. All up the process has taken more than 10 months.
The last hearing was adjourned after the Court realised the existing recording machines and related transcript storing processes didn't meet the security threshold for the classified documents that were part of the hearing.
The accused soldier is not present at today's pre-trial hearing and interim name suppression remains in place.
In November 2020, the Director of Military Prosecutions laid 17 charges against him as the result of a joint investigation by the Defence Force and police.
Espionage is communicating information or delivering an object to a country or organisation with the intention to undermine New Zealand's interests.
It carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
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