Bradley Manning, the Army intelligence analyst who gave a massive number of documents to WikiLeaks, has been convicted of 19 of 21 charges.
Among them are five counts of espionage. He was found not guilty of aiding the enemy, the most serious and controversial charge against him.
After warning that disruptions would not be tolerated, the judge overseeing his military court martial, Col. Denise Lind, rapidly delivered her verdict.
Journalists watching the proceedings from a remote media room had little time to gauge Manning’s reaction before the military cut off a live feed.
The charge of aiding the enemy was the most closely watched, as Manning’s conviction would have set a precedent with vast new legal implications.
The prosecution’s legal theory was that Manning knew his disclosures to WikiLeaks, once published online, would wind up in al Qaeda’s possession.
Although he had admitted the underlying fact of his disclosures to WikiLeaks, the prosecution tried to prove Manning was guilty of aiding al Qaeda.
Press freedom advocates had warned that if he was convicted on that count, the verdict would threaten to criminalize both journalists and their sources.
“This is a historic verdict,” said Elizabeth Goitein, co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.
“Manning is one of very few people ever charged under the Espionage Act [prosecuted] for leaks to the media. The only other person who was convicted after trial was pardoned."
"Despite the lack of any evidence that he intended any harm to the United States, Manning faces decades in prison. That’s a very scary precedent.”
"We’re obviously relieved he wasn’t sentenced on the most serious charges when there was no evidence to convict him," said Widney Brown of Amnesty International.
Pointing to the Espionage Act convictions, however, she said Manning’s lawyer should’ve been allowed to raise a defense that his leaks were in the larger interest of justice.
Lind’s orders prevented him from making such a case.
The verdict brings to a close the three-year period since Manning’s arrest in May 2011 that saw the private first class living in a state of limbo.
He does not face a life sentence, but combined together his charges could mean he spends the rest of his life in prison. Sentencing will occur Wednesday.
Bradley Manning’s arrest followed 391,832 leaks of battlefield reports from Iraq, 75,000 reports from Afghanistan, and 251,287 State Department Cables.