A US military judge has found Private Bradley Manning (25) not guilty of aiding the enemy - the most serious charge among many he faced for handing sensitive diplomatic cables to Julian Assange's WikiLeaks.
Much of the material given to Wikileaks - some of which was subsequently published in The New York Times, The Guardian and other papers - was embarrassing to the US government.
But in her verdict, the judge, Colonel Denise Lind, said prosecutors had failed to prove it had aided the enemy - a charge that carries a life sentence.
Colonel Lind did find Manning guilty of 19 of the other 20 criminal charges in the biggest breach of classified information in the US history.
A sentencing phase will begin on Thursday NZ time.
While avoiding a life sentence for aiding the enemy, the Private still faces most or all of the rest of his life behind bars.
Manning earlier plead guilty to a series of charges that carry a 20-year sentence. The deal was part of a plea bargain that saw army prosecutors forgo pushing for the death penalty.
The 19 charges he was found guilty of today could put him behind bars for a cumulative 128 years.
Meanwhile, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has now been living for more than a year in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faces questioning on two allegations of sexual assault.
Mr Assange has not been charged in relation to the Manning affair. But he says if extradited to Sweden he could in turn be sent to the US, where the government would likely press charges.
NBR staff
Wed, 31 Jul 2013
Wed, 31 Jul 2013
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Manning not guilty of most serious Wikileaks charge - but still faces 128 years in jail
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