Covered at Reason 24/7: Bradley Manning Finally Goes to Court in June
He's been behind bars for over 1,000 days, and subjected to such humiliating conditions, including being stripped naked during his confinement, that a State Department spokesman denounced his treatment (and then subsequently resigned). Yes, we're talking about Bradley Manning, the sometimes celebrated, sometimes reviled, whistleblower, who will finally get his day in court.
From CNet:
Out of sight, out of mind—that's the way it might seem when considering the plight of Bradley Manning, who has been held for more than 1,000 days without a trial. But the jailed Army private is getting close to having his day in court. On Tuesday, a military judge refused to dismiss charges against Manning, a former intelligence analyst, who could face a maximum life sentence in connection with charges that he aided the enemy.
Suspected of being the source for WikiLeaks' massive document release of military and State Department files, Manning is being held at a military jail in Quantico, Va., outside of Washington, D.C. Manning's court-martial is slated to go ahead in June.
The prosecution maintains that Manning turned over to Wikileaks hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports related to U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as State Department diplomatic cables while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad in 2009 and 2010. His defense team sought to get the charges against the 25-year-old Manning dropped, but military judge Col. Denise Lind denied their motion.
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