Bradley Manning granted 112-day reduction in possible sentence

Judge rules that Manning had suffered excessively harsh treatment but reduction falls far short of defence team's hopes
Bradley Manning
Bradley Manning was given the dispensatio as a form of recompense for the long period in which he was held at Quantico marine base. Photo: Patrick Semansky/AP





However, the ruling falls far short of the hopes of Manning's defence team. At best, the soldier's lawyers had pressed for a dismissal of all 22 counts that he is currently facing relating to the transfer of hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables and war logs to the whistleblower website WikiLeaks.


"The charges are serious in this case and there was no intent to punish. There is no argument to dismiss the charges," the judge said.

Beyond dismissal, the defence had called for a diminution of Manning's sentence according to a ratio of 10 days reduction for every day of excessive treatment, to run for the entire duration of the nine months of the soldier's confinement at Quantico. That would have resulted in more than seven years being taken off his sentence.



In her ruling, Lind rejected several of the key arguments that had been put forward by the defence as evidence of pre-trial punishment. Manning's legal team tried to show that the military hierarchy had taken an inappropriate interest in the terms of Manning's confinement right up to the level of Lt Gen George Flynn in the Pentagon.

But Lind ruled that Flynn had acted appropriately to ensure that the brig staff followed procedures correctly and that they took the "high ground". She found that there had been no intention to punish the inmate on the part of the brig staff or the chain of command, who were motivated purely by a desire to ensure that the soldier did not harm himself and that he would be available to stand trial.



That charge, that he "aided the enemy" carries a possible maximum sentence in this case of life in military custody without any chance of parole. Manning is certain to plead not guilty to that charge, and has offered to plead guilty to a range of lesser charges in the hope that the prosecution will drop the "aiding the enemy" count.