Bradley Manning judge to release verdict on Tuesday in WikiLeaks trial

Army private faces sentence of life in military custody with no chance of parole if convicted on 'aiding the enemy' charge
Bradley Manning
The US government argued that Manning aided al-Qaida when he released documents to WikiLeaks. Photograph: Patrick Semansky/AP

Bradley Manning, the self-confessed source of the massive WikiLeaks trove of US state secrets, will learn his fate on Tuesday when a military judge announces her verdict in the most high-profile prosecution of an official leaker in at least a generation.

The army private faces a possible sentence of life in military custody with no chance of parole should Colonel Denise Lind find him guilty of the most serious charge – that he knowingly "aided the enemy" by transmitting intelligence to WikiLeaks.




The outcome of the trial has huge potential ramifications, not just for Manning personally but for the wider health of investigative journalism in the United States. Leading media experts have warned that a guilty verdict on the most serious charges could send a devastating chill across news outlets by frightening away potential official leakers.

The impact of the aggressive prosecution of Manning can already be seen in the actions of Edward Snowden, the NSA leaker, who told the Guardian that he was partly motivated to flee the country having watched the harsh treatment that the US soldier received at the hands of the military.

The verdict will also put a potentially enduring stamp on how the US authorities regard individuals disclosing official secrets.

During the course of the trial, two starkly contrasting interpretations of Manning emerged.

On the one hand, the prosecution portrayed him as a traitor who had no allegiance to the American flag, driven by a desire for fame and notoriety. On the other, the defence depicted him as a naive but well-intentioned young man who was motivated by deep Humanist beliefs and who wanted to prompt a debate within US society about the costs of war.