(CNN) A former US Army soldier was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in plotting to kill fellow service members at a US military base in Turkey.
Part of a neo-Nazi, pro-jihadist group known as the Order of the Nine Angles (O9A), Ethan Melzer, now 24, provided sensitive details about his unit, including locations, security and troop movements, to the extremist group in connection with its plot to attack the base and kill his fellow soldiers, according to the Justice Department.
According to prosecutors, Melzer’s motivation for the attack was to cause a mass casualty event, bringing on another war in the Middle East and “ultimately a race war to advance his mission of white supremacy” and the downfall of Western civilization.
