Bradley Manning Lawyer Calls For 'Aiding the Enemy' Charges To Be Dropped...

Source: the guardian

Defence lawyers acting for Bradley Manning, the US soldier who fed a trove of state secrets to WikiLeaks, have called for several of the 22 counts against him to be dismissed, including the most serious charge that he "aided the enemy".

Manning's lead lawyer, the civilian attorney David Coombs, has filed four motions with the military court in Fort Meade, Maryland, asking the judge to drop several charges because of lack of evidence. In addition to aiding the enemy, the relevant counts include the allegation that Manning stole or purloined US property in the form of unauthorised intelligence drawn from Afghan and Iraq warlogs, Guantánamo detainee files and hundreds of thousands of US diplomatic cables from embassies around the world.

Coombs has also filed a motion to dismiss the allegation that Manning violated section 1030 of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by "knowingly exceeding authorised access" on a secret military network and transmitting documents to WikiLeaks, "with reason to believe that such information so obtained could be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation".

Section 1030 carries a maximum sentence of 10 years, while aiding the enemy – a violation under military law – carries a possible life sentence with no chance of parole. Manning has already pleaded guilty to less serious offences carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years, although he has denied that he aided the enemy...

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/08/bradley-manning-lawyer-charges-dropped-trial