WikiLeaks soldier Bradley Manning in plea bargain

Published on 30/11/2012 00:00

An AMERICAN military judge has accepted the terms under which US army soldier Bradley Manning would plead guilty to lesser charges for sending thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks in the biggest leak of military secrets in the country’s history.

The ruling in a pre-trial hearing yesterday does not mean Manning’s pleas have been formally accepted, but the judge approved the language of the offences to which Manning would admit. Under the proposal, Manning would admit to wilfully sending to the secrets-spilling website a battlefield video file, some classified memos, more than 20 Iraq war logs, more than 20 Afghanistan war logs and other classified materials. He would also plead guilty to wrongfully storing classified 
information.