An Australian pilot who has been accused of receiving payment for providing unauthorized training to Chinese military members has refuted claims that he poses a flight risk. In a formal appeal, he has requested to be released to home detention and stated that he has been a compliant inmate.
Daniel Duggan has sent a letter to the current corrections commissioner of New South Wales from Lithgow maximum security prison. He is currently in isolated custody there as he contests his extradition to the US.
Duggan, a former member of the US military who was granted Australian citizenship, is facing four charges in the US. These charges include conspiring to commit money laundering and two counts of violating laws related to trafficking arms.
According to court documents, the US claims that Duggan expressed his desire for his children to have a secure future after he agreed to train Chinese naval pilots.
It is claimed that he received payment ranging from $116,000 to $188,000 for conducting training in South Africa from 2010 to 2012.
Duggan has continuously refuted the accusations made against him and categorized them as being driven by political motives.
If found guilty, he could potentially be sentenced to 60 years in a prison in the United States. He has already served 14 months in a NSW prison since his arrest in October 2022.
According to information received by Guardian Australia, Duggan asked to be separated from the regular inmates due to fears for his safety. His representatives argue that he was coerced into making this request after spending almost a year in solitary confinement.
According to a letter obtained by Guardian Australia, Duggan expressed to the interim NSW corrections commissioner that he felt he was being treated unfairly, as if he had committed a serious offense.
He stated that the primary reason for giving me a home detention order is not for my benefit, but for the sake of my children, wife, and father-in-law who are currently experiencing a great deal of stress and distress.
I respectfully ask that you use your power to allow me to serve my sentence at home, so I can help my family with tasks around the house such as cleaning, cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry, and completing necessary tasks on the farm.
Duggan shared that he has been stuck in an ongoing cycle of being separated and confined since his arrest by the Australian federal police in his hometown of Orange, located in regional New South Wales, in October of last year.
He stated that for those who unreasonably think he may try to escape and do not acknowledge his six children as his most important responsibility, he believes that Australia is the safest place for him to be.
A spokesperson for Corrective Services NSW has previously stated that the state does not employ solitary confinement, but they acknowledged that Duggan was placed in a cell designed for one person with a small outdoor area.
The representative stated that the department does not have the power to release inmates who have not been sentenced to home detention. The department refused to provide any further statement regarding Duggan’s appeal.
Duggan stated in his letter that Bob Carr, the former premier of NSW, had brought up his situation with Anoulack Chanthivong, the corrections minister. Chanthivong informed him that the corrections commissioner has the authority to grant him home detention.
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Chanthivong did not provide a statement when reached by Guardian Australia. Carr was not able to comment.
Duggan has enlisted the help of a group of attorneys and also hired the services of a communications agency, pCOMZ, to handle the media exposure for his lawsuit. The case centers on accusations of a political plot against him and includes a public campaign to garner support from his family.
American officials state that emails, travel logs, and financial records indicated that Duggan engaged in unauthorized defense services by instructing Chinese pilots at a contentious flight school in South Africa.
The claim is that Duggan knew about the laws limiting the export of US defense services, but still violated them by offering training services to the Chinese military.
The US government nearly exceeded the five-year time limit to press charges against Duggan, who was formally accused by a jury in 2017.
According to the charges, Duggan violated regulations on arms control by instructing Chinese military pilots and his associates purchased a T-2 Buckeye plane from an American seller under false pretenses for the purposes of training.
According to the indictment, Duggan delivered a talk titled “The Fighter Pilot’s Guide to Mission Success” in China in 2011.
Glenn Kolomeitz, a lawyer and former member of the Australian Army, is serving as a representative for the Duggan family. He stated that it is not unusual for ex-military individuals to deliver presentations similar to the one that Duggan is accused of giving in China.
According to Kolomeitz, Duggan was employed at a flight school in South Africa where he trained civilian pilots from China. Kolomeitz also stated that there was no indication to suggest otherwise.
The US Attorney General, Mark Dreyfus, has given the green light to Duggan’s extradition request. This means that Duggan will be sent to the US unless his lawyers can demonstrate that the extradition is illegal.
Source: theguardian.com
