File picture of Bradley Manning at the WikiLeaks trial
The judge in the court-martial of Bradley Manning, the soldier convicted of giving classified US files to WikiLeaks, said today she would sentence him on Wednesday morning at the earliest.
Judge Colonel Denise Lind gave her timetable for handing down a sentence in a brief court session as she began her deliberations on how long Manning should be in prison.
Manning, a 25-year-old private first class, faces up to 90 years behind bars for giving more than 700,000 classified files, battlefield videos and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, a pro-transparency website.
Manning, who was working as low-level intelligence analyst in Baghdad in 2010 when he handed over the documents, was convicted in July on 20 counts including espionage and theft. He was found not guilty on the most serious charge, aiding the enemy, which had carried a possible sentence of life in prison without parole.
Prosecutors had argued for a minimum sentence of 60 years in prison. Defense lawyers have contended that Manning should get a lenient sentence, saying he was naive but well-intentioned.
© Thomson Reuters 2013