Prosecutors will not seek a death penalty for the soldier charged with “aiding the enemy” by allegedly stealing thousands of classified documents and giving them to Wikileaks, which released them online last year.
“The charge of aiding the enemy under Article 104 of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice is a capital offense,” the American Forces Press Service (AFPS) explained yesterday, but “the prosecution team has said it won’t recommend the death penalty.”
Manning’s pretrial hearing, which will determine if there is sufficient basis for him to face the most serious form of court martial, began yesterday and continues today. If he is convicted of “introduc[ing] unauthorized software onto government computers to extract classified information, unlawfully downloaded it, improperly stored it, and transmitted the data for public release and use by the enemy,” he faces life in prison.
