A military court martial in Wellington has convicted a New Zealand soldier of attempted espionage, marking the country’s first spying conviction. The serviceman, whose name is suppressed, pleaded guilty to trying to pass classified information to what he believed was an agent of a foreign power. He also admitted to accessing a military computer system for dishonest purposes and to possessing a prohibited publication. Court documents show the soldier offered telephone directories, maps and photographs of several bases as well as assessments of security weaknesses at Linton Military Camp and nearby Ohakea airbase. He supplied the material to an undercover New Zealand police officer who posed as a foreign operative after authorities became concerned that the soldier wished to defect. The man came under scrutiny during a post-2019 crackdown on far-right extremism following the Christchurch mosque attacks, which killed 51 people. Investigators later found a copy of the gunman’s livestreamed video and manifesto on his hard drive. The soldier acknowledged membership in nationalist groups Action Zealandia and the Dominion Movement but denied supporting terrorist ideology. Each of the three charges he admitted carries a maximum prison term of up to 10 years. A panel of senior officers is expected to hand down a sentence within days. The New Zealand Defence Force said it would comment only after the proceedings conclude.