Bradley Manning Judge Raises Burden for US
Bradley
Manning Judge Raises Burden for US
April 11, 2013 byJean
By Ed Pilkington, Guardian
UK
Source: Reader
Supported News
11 April 13
Judge’s order
raises burden of proof for prosecutors seeking life in military prison for
WikiLeaks suspect over security leaks.
he US government will have to prove that
the WikiLeaks source, Bradley
Manning, had “reason to believe” that his disclosure of state secrets could
be harmful to the US and beneficial to foreign nations, the judge presiding
over the soldier’s court martial ruled on Wednesday.
The ruling from Colonel
Denise Lind, sitting in a military court at Fort Meade in Maryland, raises the
burden of proof for the prosecutors who are trying to have the US soldier
jailed for life for his actions in passing hundreds of thousands of classified
state documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Manning has pleaded
guilty to the leak, but only to lesser charges that carry an upper sentence of
20 years in military jail.
He has pleaded not guilty
to the most serious charge, that he knowingly “aided the enemy”. The charge
carries a theoretical death sentence, but the prosecution has indicated it will
seek life in military custody instead.
Manning is set to go to
full court martial on 3 June, with the trial expected to last for 12 weeks. The
scale of the WikiLeaks breach of US intelligence – including war logs from Iraq
and Afghanistan, videos of US helicopter attacks, as well as a mountain of
diplomatic cables from around the world – coupled with the seriousness of the
charges, will ensure the trial will be the most high-profile prosecution of a
leaker in a generation.
In a separate ruling,
Lind has given the prosecution the green light to call witnesses who will
testify that the WikiLeaks material actually reached “the enemy”. The defence,
led by a civilian lawyer, David Coombs, had tried to preclude any evidence
relating to the end-use of the leaked documents and videos on grounds that it
was irrelevant and potentially prejudicial to Manning.
But the judge found that
it was relevant, particularly to the key prosecution accusation that the
soldier “aided the enemy”. She listed a number of hostile groups as “the enemy”
in this case, including al-Qaida, al-Qaida in
the Arabian peninsula, and an unspecified number of other organisations
referred to only by code name.
Lind stressed that to be
found guilty, Manning would have to be shown beyond reasonable doubt to have
knowingly dealt with an enemy of the US. The crime could not be inadvertently
or accidentally committed, she said.
Her ruling opens the door
to the appearance of “John Doe” as a prosecution witness. He is an unnamed
member of the team that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in Pakistan in
2011, and is presumed to be an existing or former member of the US Navy Seals.
The court has heard that
the witness found three items of digital media at Bin Laden’s compound which he
removed. Later analysis revealed that the items contained WikiLeaks material
that had been requested directly by the al-Qaida leader for his perusal, the
prosecution will seek to prove.
The conditions under
which that witness will give evidence have yet to be finalised by the judge.
The defense department and the CIA have demanded absolute anonymity for the
individual, to the extent that he will appear in disguise in a closed session
of the court at a secret location and with no media or public present.
But Manning’s defence
lawyers are protesting about the restrictions on cross-examination and
discovery, arguing that they cannot properly represent their client if they are
withheld access to the witness.
The question of how to
handle classified information during the trial continues to exercise Lind and
both sets of lawyers. Paradoxically, though most of the classified material
that will be referred to in testimony is now in the public domain courtesy of
WikiLeaks, it is still considered a US state secret and any mention of it has
to be redacted or discussed in closed court.
Early next month the
judge has ordered a two-day “dry run” of a sample witness who will testify and
submit to cross-examination in a private session. The purpose of the experiment
will be to see whether there are alternatives to holding all sensitive
testimony behind closed doors, the judge said.
The issue of courtroom
security also came up when Lind issued a stern warning to the media and the
public benches at the start of the hearing. She made clear her displeasure at
therecent unauthorised recording of Manning’s personal statement
to the court that was published on the internet.
The recording was a
violation of court martial rules, Lind said. “I have not ordered people in the
media operation center to be screened for recording devices, and I hope I will
not have to.”
https://jhaines6.wordpress.com/2013/04/11/bradley-manning-judge-raises-burden-for-us/ NESARA- Restore America – Galactic News
2013-04-12 12:36:40
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