India-US Academic Ashley Tellis Granted Pre-Trial Release, Rejects Allegations of China Ties
A US court has granted pre-trial release to Indian-American scholar Ashley Tellis , who was arrested last week for allegedly keeping over 1,000 pages of classified US defence documents in his basement. The 64-year-old, a well-known voice in Washington’s foreign policy circles, faces up to 10 years in prison for the unlawful retention of national defence information.
Tellis ’s attorneys told the court that he had been cooperating fully with investigators and emphasised his "lifelong commitment to American national security ." The judge released him from jail to home confinement on Tuesday, backed by a $1.5 million secured bond co-signed by his wife, Dhun Tellis.
Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , has been a respected expert on Indian and South Asian affairs for over two decades. He previously held senior roles under former President George W Bush and advised the State Department .
During the hearing, his defence team strongly rejected the Justice Department’s claim that Tellis may have leaked information to China. They argued the government had misread a scholar’s "routine professional duties" as espionage.
"Any insinuation that Dr Tellis has disclosed classified information - let alone to a foreign government - lacks any evidentiary basis," said attorneys John Nassikas and Deborah Curtis, as quoted by The Washington Post.
Tellis ’s attorneys told the court that he had been cooperating fully with investigators and emphasised his "lifelong commitment to American national security ." The judge released him from jail to home confinement on Tuesday, backed by a $1.5 million secured bond co-signed by his wife, Dhun Tellis.
Tellis, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , has been a respected expert on Indian and South Asian affairs for over two decades. He previously held senior roles under former President George W Bush and advised the State Department .
During the hearing, his defence team strongly rejected the Justice Department’s claim that Tellis may have leaked information to China. They argued the government had misread a scholar’s "routine professional duties" as espionage.
"Any insinuation that Dr Tellis has disclosed classified information - let alone to a foreign government - lacks any evidentiary basis," said attorneys John Nassikas and Deborah Curtis, as quoted by The Washington Post.
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