Arrested soldier a far-Right leader

A soldier charged with sharing military information that threatened New Zealand’s security was leading a growing white nationalist movement.

The 27-year-old soldier, who has name suppression, was arrested in December at Linton Military Camp in circumstances that were shrouded in secrecy.

The man had been planning a trip to Russia for Christmas, Stuff revealed at the time. He is now being supervised by the Defence Force while awaiting a military court trial.

He is charged with accessing a computer system for a dishonest purpose and for disclosing information that prejudiced the security or defence of New Zealand. It is not known who he supplied the information to.

Stuff has confirmed the soldier was behind an online profile named Johann Wolfe, a selfdescribed co-founder of the white nationalist group the ‘‘Dominion Movement’’, which subscribed to the same identitarian politics as the March 15 terror suspect.

The group shut down its internet presence in the hours after the Christchurch mosque attacks but a seemingly identical group – ‘‘Action Zealandia’’ – has since emerged and earlier this month vandalised signage at a National Party office in Auckland.

The soldier was also questioned by police after March 15, Stuff has previously reported.

The soldier, under the pseudonym, was interviewed by the Australian alt-Right podcast station The Convict Report produced by white nationalist group The Dingoes — which also shut down after the March 15 attack.

A source close to the soldier has confirmed to Stuff the soldier is the person named Johann Wolfe in the podcast interview. Those close to the soldier were devastated after listening to the content of the interview, according to the source.

‘‘It is heartbreaking listening to this. I know his family, this is not how he was raised,’’ they said.

The soldier told the interviewers of gaining recruits for the white nationalist group.

‘‘We are getting a reputation. ‘‘We have a well-fostered public image of being well-natured and well-intentioned,’’ he said.

‘‘We focus on the positives rather than the negatives: the love of our own culture and our own heritage, instead of what we hate about other races – which is an easy trap to fall into.’’

He describes his own entry to far-Right ideology, saying he found solace in online humour after feeling ‘‘beaten over the head’’ for being white. The soldier then spends much of the interview making what many would regard as racist remarks about Ma¯ ori, and talks of ‘‘extreme anti-European agitation’’ from the Government.

The Dominion Movement group, on its website, claimed meetings with both Australian counterparts from ‘‘Identity Australia’’ and with Kerry Bolton, the former secretary of the white nationalist group National Front.

The soldier’s involvement in white nationalist groups did not end after March 15. His arrest first came to light after members of farRight Christian group Wargus Christi mentioned online a member being arrested.

‘‘I know his family, this is not how he was raised.’’ Unnamed source