August 21, 2013 10:53 AM UTC

Bradley Manning Sentenced to 35 Years

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• by: Colorado Pols

From CNN:

Bradley Manning, the Army private whose disclosure of hundreds of thousands of U.S. military and diplomatic documents gave American officials a global case of heartburn, was sentenced to more than three decades in prison Wednesday.

A military judge sentenced Manning to 35 years in prison — less than the 60 years prosecutors sought, as well as the 90 years he could have received — minus credit for the about three and a half years he's already been behind bars. He showed little to no reaction when the judge, Army Col. Denise Lind, sentenced him at Fort Meade, outside Washington…

…Manning, 25, was convicted in July of stealing 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos and disseminating them to WikiLeaks, the online anti-secrecy group. Lind also reduced his rank from private first class to private, ordered him to forfeit pay and benefits and be dishonorably discharged.

This is obviously a significant national story, and it may have implications in Colorado during the 2014 Senate race. Sen. Mark Udall, who serves on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, has been outspoken about the need for greater transparency around the NSA's collection of information.