The US Army private who was convicted of turning over a trove of classified Government documents to website WikiLeaks apologised during his sentencing hearing on Wednesday in a military courtroom, media reports said.
“I’m sorry,” Manning said, according to reporters inside the court. “I’m sorry that my actions hurt people. I’m sorry that they hurt the United States. At the time of the decision, as you know, I was dealing with a lot of issues, issues that are ongoing.” He told the court that he had “only wanted to help people, not hurt people,” and acknowledged he must face the consequences of his actions as the military judge weighed how many years in prison he would face.
Manning acknowledged that what he did was wrong but claimed he had not appreciated the broader impact of his actions.
Last month, Judge Colonel Denise Lind pronounced Manning guilty on 20 of 22 charges of espionage and theft of Government documents after a trial that began in early June. He was found not guilty of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy.
She later reduced his maximum potential sentence to 90 years from 136 years.
Prosecution and defence lawyers are giving arguments to the court over the length of punishment for each count. At issue are whether they will be served consecutively or concurrently, and whether Manning could be released from prison before the full sentence is served.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange released a statement after Manning’s apology in court, saying the organisation continues to support him and will campaign for his unconditional release.
“He has been held in solitary confinement, stripped naked and subjected to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment by the United States Government,” Assange said in a statement from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he is currently staying to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape charges.
Assange added, “Mr Manning’s forced decision to apologise to the US Government in the hope of shaving a decade or more off his sentence must be regarded with compassion and understanding.” Earlier on Wednesday, Manning’s sister took the stand to detail the impact of a childhood with alcoholic parents, and an Army psychologist testified that Manning had suffered from gender identity disorder while serving in Iraq.
Manning admitted to copying an estimated 700,000 classified diplomatic and military documents from US Government networks while he was deployed as an intelligence analyst in Iraq, and offering the information to the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy organisation.
He earlier admitted in court to sending information to WikiLeaks in what he described as an attempt to spark debate on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In a pre-trial hearing in February, Manning had said he did not believe the cables would damage the US, but would instead be embarrassing as he hoped to spark debate about the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.