Wikileaks accused says US Army withholding emails
30 Aug 2012 8:31 PM IST
Lawyers for the US soldier charged with passing a trove of classified documents to WikiLeaks accused the military of withholding hundreds of emails over fears of a publicity nightmare.
The defense team for Private Bradley Manning, who could be jailed for life for ‘aiding the enemy’ over the massive security breach, alleged on Tuesday that more than 1,300 messages were ignored by prosecutors for at least six months.
The emails relate to the conditions the 24-year-old trooper who was held in during military detention at Quantico, Virginia, where he was sent after a spell in a US Army jail in Kuwait following his arrest while on duty in Iraq in 2010.
Manning's civilian lawyer David Coombs told a pre-trial hearing that 84 emails were released to the defense team on July 25 last year, but he later discovered that 1,290 other such messages had not been passed on to him.
The government ‘chose to let these emails collect dust somewhere,’ Coombs said on the first day of the three-day hearing at a military base in Fort Meade, Maryland, 48 kilometers from the US capital.
Military prosecutors then suddenly announced that 600 other messages had been handed to Manning's legal team on Monday, ahead of the hearing, but Coombs persisted with his attack.
The defense team for Private Bradley Manning, who could be jailed for life for ‘aiding the enemy’ over the massive security breach, alleged on Tuesday that more than 1,300 messages were ignored by prosecutors for at least six months.
The emails relate to the conditions the 24-year-old trooper who was held in during military detention at Quantico, Virginia, where he was sent after a spell in a US Army jail in Kuwait following his arrest while on duty in Iraq in 2010.
Manning's civilian lawyer David Coombs told a pre-trial hearing that 84 emails were released to the defense team on July 25 last year, but he later discovered that 1,290 other such messages had not been passed on to him.
The government ‘chose to let these emails collect dust somewhere,’ Coombs said on the first day of the three-day hearing at a military base in Fort Meade, Maryland, 48 kilometers from the US capital.
Military prosecutors then suddenly announced that 600 other messages had been handed to Manning's legal team on Monday, ahead of the hearing, but Coombs persisted with his attack.
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