Cameron Jay Ortis, a former RCMP intelligence official charged with breaching Canada's secrets law, arrives for his trial at the courthouse in Ottawa, on Thursday, Nov. 16, 2023. The jury in the criminal trial has reached a verdict.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
OTTAWA – The jury in the criminal trial of Cameron Jay Ortis, a former RCMP official accused of breaching Canada’s secrets law, has reached a verdict.
The verdict to be delivered today comes after weeks of testimony from Ortis and current and former colleagues at the national police force.
Ortis, 51, had pleaded not guilty to all charges, including violating the secrets law by revealing classified information to three individuals in 2015 and trying to do so in a fourth instance.
The Crown argued Ortis lacked authority to disclose classified material and that he was not doing so as part of a sanctioned undercover operation.
The defence contended that Ortis did not betray Canada, but was rather acting on a “clear and grave threat.”
He testified he offered secret material to targets in a bid to get them to use an online encryption service set up by an allied intelligence agency to spy on adversaries.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 22, 2023.
