Thursday, February 9, 2012

An Army private accused of leaking classified material to the anti-secrecy website Wikileaks is scheduled to be back in a military courtroom for an arraignment later this month.

The arraignment for Pfc. Bradley Manning is planned at Fort Meade in Maryland on Feb. 23.

Manning faces a general court-martial on 22 counts, including aiding the enemy. He could be imprisoned for life if convicted of that charge.

Military prosecutors say Manning downloaded and transferred to Wikileaks nearly half a million sensitive battlefield reports, hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and video of a deadly 2007 Army helicopter attack.

Defense lawyers say Manning was a troubled young soldier who shouldn't have had access to classified material. They also argue that the leaked material did little or no harm to national security.