Canadian court on Tuesday, March 27 prohibited publishing information about trial against Royal Canadian Navy’s officer Jeffrey Paul Delisle accused of espionage for Russia, reported CTV News on March 28.
Delisle is incriminated violation of information security acts and some kind of a criminal infraction. The officer broke the law twice; at first, in a period since July 2007 and Jan 2012, and then – since Jan 10 till Jan 13, 2012 (date of arrest). Criminal offense was also committed between 2007 and 2012.
According to CTV News , Delisle is the first charged of breaking the Information Security Act article adopted after terrorist attacks in the US on Sept 11, 2001.
Delisle allegedly informed Russia on zones where submarines may remain undetected, movements and weapon systems of Canadian warships.
Meanwhile, Canadian official authorities have neither specified what kind of information leaked nor the country it was transferred to. Shortly after the Delisle’s arrest, Canadian media reported on exile of Russian diplomats. However, Russian foreign ministry refuted those reports stating that the diplomats had left the country under the plan.
Russian Ambassador to Canada Georgy Mamedov declined to comment the incident having only stated that “ the truth will finally come out”.
On March 27, The Wall Street Journal published an article about Delisle. According to an informed source, the information provided by the officer was comparable to WikiLeaks disclosures.
It will be decided on Thursday, March 29 whether Delisle would be let out on bail.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff , March 30, 2012; Image: mil