CNN
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A former Australian army lawyer who leaked classified documents to journalists detailing alleged crimes by Australian Special Forces in Afghanistan has been sentenced to more than five years in prison, a sentence criticized by press freedom advocates. The ruling has been criticized for sending a chilling message to potential people. Whistleblower.
Shouts of “disgrace” rang out in a courtroom in Australia's capital Canberra on Tuesday as Judge David Mossop sentenced David McBride. The sentence was “outrageous” and a deterrent to anyone who felt motivated, his lawyer said. Expose wrongdoing.
“Anyone watching what happened to McBride would be well advised to shut up, keep their heads down and go back to work. That was pretty much the tone of today's ruling,” the lawyer said. Mark Davis said, adding his client was “completely shocked” by the verdict and planned to appeal.
Tuesday's ruling ends a long legal battle between a former military lawyer and Commonwealth prosecutors who prosecuted McBride over classified defense documents that he admitted to stealing between May 2014 and December 2015. hit.
Mr McBride provided this material to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), which in 2017 released the 'Afghan Files' detailing a series of alleged war crimes, including the killing of unarmed Afghans by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. He published a seven-part series called
The ABC report was later vindicated by the findings of an Australian Defense Force (ADF) investigation that found credible evidence that Australian Special Air Force (SAS) members committed war crimes in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2013. Ta.
The Afghanistan Inquiry Report, known as the Brereton Report, found that SAS members sometimes placed “dumped objects” – weapons and other objects – near the bodies of civilians to suggest that the civilians were killed legally. It was revealed that they had planted supplies for the area. Mr. McBride is the first person to be convicted on criminal charges related to the charges.
However, during legal proceedings against McBride, the court heard that McBride did not bring the documents to media attention to highlight the war crimes charges.
In his judgment, Mr Mossop said Mr McBride had complained that soldiers were being investigated “even in circumstances where there is no possibility that they had committed the war crime of murder”.
McBride believed the soldiers were being targeted in the investigation “to satisfy political concerns about civilian deaths.”
Mr McBride had intended to argue that he had acted out of a sense of duty to the Australian people, but Mr Justice Mossop had indicated at the previous hearing that he would not give such instructions to the jury, and in November last year Mr McBride had said: Pleaded guilty to the charges. theft of federal property and violation of the National Defense Act.
In his sentencing, Mr Mossop acknowledged Mr McBride had not acted for financial gain or to support Australia's adversaries, but added: “The offender has no remorse and remains committed to doing what is right.'' I think that I did.''
“Confident people with strong opinions who are subject to legal obligations not to disclose information must be discouraged from disclosing information to advance their views,” Mossop wrote.
“They must know that if they breach the legal obligations of confidentiality they have sworn to uphold, they will face serious penalties. This is the case if there is a risk of compromising national security,” the judge added.
Mr McBride's supporters have appealed to Australia's Attorney General to have the charges dropped and on Tuesday were furious at Mr McBride's sentence.
Kieran Pender, deputy legal director at the Human Rights Law Center, described it as a “dark day for democracy” and sent a “chilling” message to would-be whistleblowers. He said it was a day.
“David McBride leaked documents to national television containing credible evidence of war crimes committed by Australian troops in Afghanistan. The information is clearly in the public interest and no one can deny it. I think so,” he said.
Mr Pender and others pointed out that no one had yet been charged with Australia's alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, apart from the man who brought the matter to national attention.
“Will the next David McBride see this result and speak out about cheating?” he asked.
Peter Greste, a journalist, author and passionate defender of press freedom, said he found the whistleblower's imprisonment “very disturbing”.
He said he believed it would affect press freedom and have a “very serious chilling effect” on whistleblowing.
“Journalists should be the conduits for this kind of thing,” Greste said. He was released from Egypt in 2015 after serving 13 months in prison on charges of creating false news with the aim of defaming Egypt.
“If the internal government machinery malfunctions, sources with evidence of government wrongdoing can go to journalists and provide them with the information they need to expose these reports, while protecting their identities. It's part of the democratic system,” he said. “This seriously and profoundly undermines that principle. That's what worries me so much.”
“David should be treated as a hero, not a villain,” Greste added.
Australian Federal Police officers raided the ABC offices in Sydney in 2019 for documents as they pursued possible charges against the journalists behind the story.
However, no charges were ultimately filed. The ABC declined to comment on Mr McBride's sentence. If his sentence is upheld, he will serve 27 months in prison until August 2026 without parole.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declined to comment on the ruling, citing the possibility of an appeal.
“I'm not going to say anything here that will interfere with the issues that will clearly continue to come before the courts,” he told parliament on Tuesday.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Mark Dreyfuss said in a statement that “the decision to prosecute David McBride and the implementation of that prosecution is the responsibility of the Director of U.S. Attorneys' Offices.”
“The CDPP is independent from the government of the day, which is a very important feature of our criminal justice system,” he added.
The Australian Federal Police is working with the Office of Special Investigations (OSI) to investigate possible charges.
Last year, a New South Wales man was charged with murder, the first war crimes charge against a current or former ADF member under Australian law, according to AFP news agency.
This story has been updated to clarify that the ADF investigation began before the ABC's reporting on The Afghanistan Files.
