Judge refuses to dismiss charges in WikiLeaks case; Manning argued he was denied speedy trial

By Ben Nuckols

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

FORT MEADE, Md. — An Army private accused of sending classified material to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks has not been denied a speedy trial despite his lengthy pretrial confinement, and the charges against him will stand, a military judge ruled Thursday.

Attorneys for Pfc. Bradley Manning had asked the judge to dismiss all charges against the former intelligence analyst because he’s been detained for two years and nine months. Defence attorney David Coombs argued that prosecutors dragged their feet and that a commander rubber-stamped their requests for delay after delay.

Prosecutors said the delays were reasonable, given the complexity of the case and the volume of classified material involved. The military judge, Col. Denise Lind, agreed with prosecutors, with a few minor exceptions. She denied the defence motion.

Manning faces 22 charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a maximum life sentence. His court-martial is scheduled to start June 3 at Fort Meade, an Army base between Baltimore and Washington.

The 25-year-old is accused of sending hundreds of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan battlefield reports, State Department diplomatic cables, other classified records and two battlefield video clips to WikiLeaks in 2009 and 2010 while working as an intelligence analyst in Baghdad.

The Obama administration has said releasing the information threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America’s relations with other governments. Experts say that by seeking to punish Manning, the administration is sending a strong message that such leaks will not be tolerated.

Manning supporters — who held events Saturday to mark his 1,000 days in confinement — consider him a whistleblowing hero whose actions exposed war crimes and helped trigger the Middle Eastern pro-democracy uprisings known as the Arab Spring in late 2010.

Manning has offered to plead guilty to reduced charges for 10 of the 22 counts he faces. Lind was scheduled to consider on Thursday whether to accept that plea after questioning Manning under oath about his actions. If she were to accept the plea, he would face 20 years in prison on those charges.

However, Manning has not reached a plea deal with prosecutors. Even if the plea were to be accepted, prosecutors could still pursue convictions on the other charges, including aiding the enemy and several counts of theft of government property.

Also on Tuesday, it was revealed that Manning has submitted a written statement about the leak and the motive behind it that he wants to read in court during Thursday’s hearing on his guilty plea. Lind has not decided whether to allow Manning to read the statement into the record. Prosecutors objected to the statement.

Attorneys for Manning and the government also argued Tuesday about whether evidence that Osama bin Laden had viewed some of the material leaked by Manning and published by WikiLeaks was relevant. Prosecutors plan to call a witness who was part of the Navy SEAL raid on bin Laden’s compound in Abbotabad, Pakistan, to establish that the al-Qaida leader possessed some of the material. The court would move to a secure location to hear that witness’ testimony, and the person’s name would not be made public.

The defence argues that such evidence is not necessary to prove the charge of aiding the enemy. What’s relevant, Coombs said, is whether Manning knew at the time he handed over the material that the enemy would receive it.

Manning has won few significant victories in his lengthy pretrial proceedings, which included testimony from the soldier about how he was deprived of his clothing and told to stand at attention naked while on suicide watch at the maximum-security Marine Corps brig at Quantico, Virginia. He has since been transferred to medium-security confinement at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Lind ruled that Manning was illegally punished for part of the time he spent at Quantico and that 112 days should be cut from any prison sentence he receives if convicted.

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Follow Ben Nuckols on Twitter at https://twitter.com/APBenNuckols.

18:18ET 26-02-13