Bradley Manning, WikiLeaks informant, faces up to 154 years in prison

Bradley ManningBradley Manning will appear tomorrow before a court martial, three years after his arrest in Iraq for one of the largest leaks of confidential documents in American history.

“The trial of the century is about to begin,” proclaims the support network of Bradley Manning, on the eve of the opening of the trial planned to last nearly three months at the Fort Meade (Maryland) military base at, not far from Washington DC.

Pfc. Manning, with a frail body and adolescent face, is facing life imprisonment at the end of the trial before the military judge Denise Lind.

He is accused of espionage and aiding the enemy, namely the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, by delivering to WikiLeaks thousands of U.S. military documents on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 250,000 State Department dispatches.

The U.S. government says that private Manning has “knowingly” put the United States in danger by sending these secret documents, which he had access to in the course of his duties as an intelligence analyst in Iraq from November 2009 until his arrest in May 2010. This is an allegation that the government must prove during the trial, ordered the judge at pretrial hearings.

The 25-year-old man has admitted full responsibility for his actions but categorically denied that he intended to harm the United States. “I want people to see the truth … regardless of who they are. Because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public…” hoping that by releasing the cables he would spark “worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms,” he argued before the judge at one of two interventions in the presence of the media.

He pleads guilty to ten counts but considers himself innocent of charges of “collusion with the enemy” or publishing military intelligence knowing that they will be accessible to the enemy. He also admitted “the intentional transmission” of a video showing of a combat helicopter firing on civilians in Iraq in July 2007, or memoranda relating to the war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo detainees.

With this partial guilty plea, the maximum penalty is from 162 to 154 years in prison. The court martial, expected to last until August 23, is expected to attract a daily gathering of support to the military base at Fort Meade.

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