Canadian naval officer charged with espionage
Canadian first
Canadian Forces Navy Sub-Lieutenant Jeffrey Paul Delisle arrives at the provincial court for a bail hearing in Halifax, Nova Scotia, March 30, 2012. Canadian authorities have charged Delisle with giving "a foreign entity" secret information.
Credits: REUTERS/Sandor Fizli
A Nova Scotia judge has denied bail to a Canadian naval officer charged with spying.
Sub-Lt. Jeffrey Paul Delisle, 40, faces two charges under the Security of Information Act and a criminal charge of breach of trust.
Delisle appeared in a Halifax court for a bail hearing Wednesday, when the decision was put over until Friday morning.
There is a publication ban on the proceedings.
Delisle was working at Trinity, the navy's intelligence centre in Halifax, when he was arrested Jan. 13. The federal government will not confirm that authorities suspect Delisle was passing military secrets to the Russians, and the Russian foreign ministry has denied media reports that four staff members of its embassy in Ottawa were expelled from Canada over the alleged espionage operation.
RCMP say Delisle's charges relate to alleged offences committed between 2007 and January 2012. During that time, Delisle worked in Kingston, Ont., and in Ottawa for both the Chief of Defence Intelligence and at the Strategic Joint Staff before returning to Trinity, which, along with allied maritime intelligence and the coast guard, tracks ship traffic in the Atlantic.
Delisle's lawyer Mike Taylor has said that his client never put any of his military counterparts in danger.
Delisle, a resident of Bedford, N.S., started his military career in 1996 as a reservist and joined the regular forces in 2001.
He could face a life sentence if convicted under the Security of Information Act.
