On Wednesday morning Pfc. Bradley was sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.  The military judge, Army colonel Denise Lind, sentenced him after Manning’s conviction on multiple charges just last month.  He faced up to 90 years in prison. These charges included violations of the Espionage Act for copying and distributing the documents during his service as an intelligence analyst at a forward operating base in Iraq.

Manning would become eligible for parole after serving just one-third of the sentence.  Government prosecutors had requested a 60 year sentence in the case.  Throughout the case and prior to sentencing Manning’s defense portrayed the 25 year old as a troubled and misguided idealist.  Manning also issued an apology for his actions, adding that he was sorry for the effect it had on the United States.  He has also received a credit of 1,293 days for time already served and that includes an additional 112 days credit that were given to him after he endured abusive treatment when he was first confined to the Quantico brig.

Manning of course was behind what was at the time the biggest leak of sensitive information in history.  Through the course of his activity, he released documents to the website WikiLeaks, establishing a direct relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.  The secret materials released disclosed to the public information about the military, diplomatic cables, information about war efforts, intelligence, and even included classified videos.  According to Manning and his defense, his intent was to raise public awareness of the way the wars were being carried out.

After an investigation into how this information came up, the FBI caught a break when Manning started bragging about his work with WikiLeaks.  An informant led the FBI to the source, and the FBI caught up with Manning in Iraq in late May 2010.   He has been incarcerated since then, his trial started earlier this year where he pled guilty on a number of charges and was found guilty of several more.