MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Manning sentenced to 35 years for providing Wikileaks with 700.000 classified files

Defence attorneys pleaded with military Judge Lind not to “rob him of his youth.”

Bradley Manning, the US soldier convicted of the biggest breach of classified data in the nation's history by providing files to WikiLeaks, was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Judge Colonel Denise Lind, who last month found Manning guilty of 20 charges including espionage and theft, could have sentenced him to as many as 90 years in prison. Prosecutors had asked for 60 years.

Manning, 25, will be dishonourably discharged from the US military and forfeit some pay, Lind said. His rank will be reduced to private from private first class.

Manning would be eligible for parole after serving one-third of his sentence, which will be reduced by the time he has already served in prison plus 112 days.

Wearing his dress uniform, the slightly built Manning stood at attention as the sentence was read, seeming to show no emotion. As he was escorted out of the courtroom, supporters shouted “Bradley, we are with you.”

Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Centre for Justice, called the sentence “unprecedented” in its magnitude.

“It's more than 17 times the next longest sentence ever served” for providing secret material to the media, Goitein said. “It is in line with sentences for paid espionage for the enemy.”

In 2010, Manning turned over more than 700,000 classified files, battlefield videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, the pro transparency website, in a case that has commanded international attention.

Defence attorneys had not made a specific sentencing request but pleaded with Lind not to “rob him of his youth.”

Manning was working as a low-level intelligence analyst in Baghdad when he handed over the documents, catapulting WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange, into the international spotlight.

The classified material that shocked many around the world included a 2007 gun-sight video of a US Apache helicopter firing at suspected insurgents in Baghdad. Among the dozen fatalities was two Reuters news staff. WikiLeaks dubbed the footage “Collateral Murder.”

Human rights group Amnesty International called on US President Barack Obama to commute Manning's sentence.

“Instead of fighting tooth and nail to lock him up for the equivalent of several life sentences, the US government should turn its attention to investigating and delivering justice for the serious human rights abuses committed by its officials in the name of countering terror,” said Widney Brown, senior director of international law and policy at Amnesty International.