Lawyers: Manning’s Charges May Be Dismissed Over Mistreatment in Detention

Nine Months in Solitary Confinement a 'Denial of Rights'

Presumed WikiLeaks source Pfc. Bradley Manning may soon see the charges against him dropped, according to reports citing his lawyers as planning to file for a full dismissal of the case against him.

Manning, who is facing various charges under the Uniform Military Code related to handling classified materials, has been held is detention for nine months in solitary confinement and is said to be in deteriorating health.

Lawyers have been complaining about his abuse for weeks, saying it amounts to “unlawful pretrial punishment.” The extent of the mistreatment, however, could be enough now to justify abandoning the charges against him entirely.

With officials rallying for Bradley Manning’s summary execution, the dismissal of all charges would be a major embarrassment for the administration, but likely too for the Quantico Brig, whose treatment of Manning appears to fall so far outside of the legal standard as to make trying the case virtually impossible.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.