Bradley Manning was a U.S. soldier who leaked sensitive materials to WikiLeaks. According to Reuters, this was the biggest breach of classified data in the nation’s history. Military Judge Colonel Denise Lind found Manning guilty of 20 charges; among those counted were espionage and theft.
The court could have sentenced him to as many as 90 years, and prosecutors had asked for 60 years. Manning will be dishonorably discharged from the U.S. military and he will forfeit some pay. His rank will also be reduced to private from private first class. Manning may be eligible for parole after serving a third of his sentence plus 112 days. That means his parole should start in about 10 or so years.
Co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, Elizabeth Goitein, commented that the sentence is “in line with sentences for paid espionage for the enemy.”
In 2010, Officer Manning gave more than 700,000 files, battlefield videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. The accidental death of two Reuters’ news staff was leaked in video footage of a gunfight in Baghdad with suspected insurgents. Julian Assange came into the spotlight when he showed the world the worst situations that the United States military have been involved in. Assange dubbed the footage “Collateral Murder.”
At this time, former Officer Manning will carry out his sentence in the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.