Manning found guilty of violating the Espionage Act, acquitted of aiding the enemy (updated)

 either.”

Ben Wizner, director of the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, expressed relief that Manning was acquitted of the “most dangerous charge” brought against him, but criticized the espionage charges.

“While we’re relieved that Mr. Manning was acquitted of the most dangerous charge, the ACLU has long held the view that leaks to the press in the public interest should not be prosecuted under the Espionage Act,” he told the Times. “Since Manning already pleaded guilty to charges of leaking information — which carry significant punishment — it seems clear that the government was seeking to intimidate anyone who might consider revealing valuable information in the future.”

Gregg Leslie, the legal defense director for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the Espionage Act convictions — a charge that covers not spying but releasing defense information that could cause harm — were not surprising but were still alarming, given that the information released was important for public debate.

“We always hate to see a government employee who was trying to publicize wrongdoing convicted of a crime, but this case was unusual from the start because of the scope of his release,” he told the Times. “Because of Manning’s obligations as a government employee, it almost would have been more of a surprise if the government had not won on an Espionage Act count.”

Still, he added: “Whistle-blowers always know they are taking risks, and the more they reveal the bigger the threat is against them. But we know they are not betraying the government. And when they contribute vital information to an important public debate, it should not be a crime — especially the kind of crime that sends you to jail for the rest of your life.”

The prosecution portrayed Manning as an anarchist and a traitor who was out to make a splash, while his defense, led by attorney David Coombs, portrayed him as a young, naïve, but well-intentioned humanist who wanted to trigger debate and bring about change.

The sentencing phase of the trial at Fort Meade, outside Baltimore, will begin Wednesday, with more than twenty witnesses each for the prosecution and the defense. The sentencing phase could last weeks — there is no minimum sentence in the military justice system. Legal experts say that subsequent appeals could take years.

Manning will likely be serving his time at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Manning was arrested in Iraq in May 2010 and transferred to the brig at Marine Corps Base Quantico in July 2010. He was kept alone in a windowless six-by-eight-foot cell 23 hours a day and forced while on suicide watch to sleep in a “suicide smock.”

Judge Lind ruled in January that any sentence the Army private receives should be reduced by 112 days because of his mistreatment in confinement.