US Army soldier Ethan Melzer, 22, of Louisville, Kentucky, was indicted on terrorist charges Monday after he provided sensitive details about his Army unit to extremist organization Order of the Nine Angles (O9A), according to the US Justice Department (DoJ).
Melzer provided information such as location, movements and security to the neo-Nazi and white-supremacist group, the DoJ said. He has been charged with “conspiring and attempting to murder US nationals, conspiring and attempting to murder military service members, providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and conspiring to murder and maim in a foreign country,” the DoJ release notes.
The O9A group holds violent, neo-Nazi, anti-Semitic and Satanic beliefs and has “expressed admiration for both Nazis, such as Adolf Hitler, and Islamic jihadists, such as Osama Bin Laden,” according to the release.
The DoJ release also notes that during a voluntary interview with military investigators and the FBI, Melzer said he wanted the attack to kill as many of his fellow service members as possible and that he considers himself to be a traitor against the US.
“As the indictment lays out, Ethan Melzer plotted a deadly ambush on his fellow soldiers in the service of a diabolical cocktail of ideologies laced with hate and violence,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers is quoted as saying in the DoJ release.
Melzer joined the US Army in 2018 and became a member of O9A “by approximately 2019,” according to the release.
“Melzer declared himself to be a traitor against the United States, and described his own conduct as tantamount to treason. We agree. He turned his back on his county and his unit while aligning himself with members of the neo-Nazi group O9A,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Office William F. Sweeney Jr. is quoted as saying in the DoJ release.
“Today, he is in custody and facing a lifetime of service – behind bars – which is appropriate given the severity of the conduct we allege today.”
Sourse: sputniknews.com
