Solidarity Rally for Bradley Manning (Accused Wikileaks Whistle-Blower)
dirty...@riseup.net
AT FORT MEADE MD, WORLDWIDE.
The United States Army has scheduled an Article 32 pretrial hearing for
PFC Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence specialist accused of releasing
classified material to WikiLeaks. The pretrial hearing will commence on
December 16 at Fort Meade, Maryland.
This will be PFC Manning’s first appearance before a court and the first
time he will face his accusers after 17 months in confinement. In a blog
post this morning, Manning’s lead counsel, David Coombs, notified
supporters that the pretrial phase is scheduled to last five days.
Here is the full text of his update:
“The Article 32 hearing for PFC Bradley Manning will begin on December 16,
2011 at Fort Meade, Maryland. The hearing is expected to last
approximately five days. With the exception of those limited times where
classified information is being discussed, the hearing will be open to the
public.
The primary purpose of the Article 32 hearing is to evaluate the relative
strengths and weaknesses of the government’s case as well as to provide
the defense with an opportunity to obtain pretrial discovery. The defense
is entitled to call witnesses during the hearing and to also cross examine
the government’s witnesses. Each witness who testifies is placed under
oath; their testimony can therefore be used during the trial for
impeachment purposes or as prior testimony should the witness become
unavailable.
Our office is committed to providing the best representation for PFC
Manning during this upcoming hearing. Achieving this goal is the sole
focus of the lawyers, experts, and administrative staff working on this
case. Given our focus, we will not be granting any media interviews or
responding to any media inquiries. However, recognizing the public’s
interest and the growing support for PFC Manning, we will be issuing
regular public releases. The goal of these releases is to keep PFC
Manning’s supporters informed and to assist the media in providing
accurate information about this case.”
Supporters will be present outside Fort Meade when he arrives on December
16 and as part of a day of action on his 24th birthday, December 17.
“The charges against Bradley Manning are an indictment of our government’s
obsession with secrecy,” said Daniel Ellsberg, who released the Pentagon
Papers and accelerated the end of hostilities in Vietnam forty years ago.
“Manning is accused of revealing illegal activities by our government and
its corporate partners that must be brought to the attention of the
American people. The Obama administration lacks the courage to confront
the crimes and injustices that now stand exposed.”
Manning’s supporters assert that the information he is accused of making
public was wrongly and illegally classified, and that whoever leaked the
information should be protected as a whistle-blower. The WikiLeaks
revelations include the “Collateral Murder” video, which shows the killing
of Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists, as well as diplomatic cables
that have embarrassed governments and corporations around the world.
Another cable related to the cover-up of a war crime contributed to the
early exit of troops from Iraq by the end of this year.
PFC Manning’s confinement conditions drew strong reactions and protests
from legal scholars, politicians, and human rights advocates from around
the world. He was confined for ten months at a Quantico Marine base, where
he faced extreme conditions in which he was forced to stand naked and was
kept in isolation. P.J. Crowley, then-spokesperson for Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton, was forced to resign after he called Manning’s treatment
“ridiculous, counterproductive and stupid.” Juan Mendez, the United
Nations’ rapporteur on torture, still seeks to meet with Manning,
unmonitored, as part of an official investigation of evidence of abuse.
The Bradley Manning Support Network will continue to provide updates as
they become available.
