14 DAY TRIAL // Former WikiLeaks spokesman Daniel Domscheit-Berg claims to have destroyed thousands of unreleased files received by the secrets-spilling organization in order to protect sources.
Domscheit-Berg, who has been involved in WikiLeaks since its inception, quit the whistleblowing site in August 2010 amidst internal disagreements with Julian Assange.
Together with other former-WikiLeaks supporters the German activist created OpenLeaks, an organization with similar goals, but a different approach and internal structure.
According to WikiLeaks, when he left the organization, Domscheit-Berg stole internal communications and over 3,000 unpublished documents.
The organization has tried to get back the files, both through legal threats and mediation, but those efforts have been unsuccessful.
"The negotiations have now been terminated by the mediator, Andy Müller-Maguhn, who has stated that he doubts Mr. Domscheit-Berg's integrity and claimed willingness to return the material and that under those circumstances Müller-Maguhn cannot meaningfully continue to mediate," WikiLeaks said in a statement.
"In response, Mr. Domscheit-Berg has stated that he has, or is about to, destroy thousands of unpublished whistleblowers disclosures sent to WikiLeaks.
"The material is irreplaceable and includes substantial information on many issues of public importance, human rights abuses, mass telecommunications interception, banking and the planning of dozens of neo-nazi groups," it added.
Domscheit-Berg told Der Spiegel that he destroyed the documents in order to protect the individuals who leaked them, because he doubts the ability of WikiLeaks to protect sources.
According to the BBC, the documents are believed to have contained the complete US no-fly list, 5GB of data from Bank of America, the internal communications of 20 neo-Nazi organisations and US intercept information for more than a hundred Internet companies.
"We can confirm that the DDB claimed destroyed data included a copy of the entire US no-fly list," WikiLeask wrote on Twitter.