Prosecutors oppose pending trial of Pentagon defendant
Teixeira, 21, who was charged with disseminating many classified US General Staff documents on Discord, appeared in court for a second time.
The judge took the opinion of the parties on Teixeira’s trial pending trial. Prosecutors conducting the investigation demanded that the suspect remain in pretrial detention, citing the suspect’s past, that he had many more confidential documents, and that several weapons were found during searches of his home.
Prosecutors also pointed out that it is risky for the suspect to be tried pending trial, considering that there is a risk of flight or that he may seek refuge in a foreign state.
Rifles and bazookas were found in his house.
On the other hand, in the documents presented by the prosecution to the court to justify this request, it was revealed that Teixeira had access to a large amount of confidential intelligence information during the last year.
Prosecutors noted that during searches of the 21-year-old soldier’s home, many different rifles were found, especially AR-15s and AK-47s, and a bazooka.
In addition, documents filed by prosecutors indicated that the suspect was investigating the shootings at Rugby Ridge, Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay, Buffalo and Uvalde, in which many people were killed, using state computers, most recently in July 2022.
Prosecutors also said Teixeira believed in conspiracy theories that his government was involved in major armed attacks in the country.
The judge stated that the prosecution has not yet made a decision on whether to hold or wait for the trial to examine their argument.
On the other hand, while this information about Teixeira causes controversy, it also questions how he went through the security investigation while being recruited.
DID NOT ANSWER THE QUESTIONS
Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Ryder declined to answer questions on this issue at the daily news briefing. Expressing that the US military is constantly subjecting his personnel to security investigations, Ryder said that Teixeira’s situation is under investigation and he will not comment on it.
On April 6, US Joint Chiefs of Staff coat of arms documents were leaked, containing up-to-date military and intelligence information on important topics, including the Ukraine-Russia war, Russia-related intelligence activities, Israel, Canada, South Korea, China and Iran’s nuclear program.
Leaks on Twitter and Russian Telegram channels are claimed to be as significant as the 2010 WikiLeaks scandal, which leaked crypto from US diplomats, and the 2013 Snowden crisis, when digital surveillance activities were leaked.
Despite the WikiLeaks and Snowden revelations, many American experts point out that the importance of the new leak stems from the fact that the shared documents contain up-to-date information. It is claimed that the leaked documents were actually shared on Discord and Telegram in February and March, but it was only recently noticed. (AA)