Julian Assange sues US military over secrecy of Bradley Manning trial

Julian Assange sues US military over secrecy of Bradley Manning trial

rt.com

Julian Assange and a coalition of activists and journalists filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the military judge overseeing Army Pfc. Bradley Manning’s trial in a bid to open access to the secretive proceedings.

During the trial both access to transcripts and prosecution and defense motions have been virtually inaccessible.

Bradley, who faces a life sentence over the leaking of more than 700,000 sensitive military documents published by Wikileaks, is currently being tried by a military tribunal. The trial is expected to begin on June 3, 2013.

The judge overseeing Manning’s cour

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Wickileaks are gaining a strong foothold to seriously challenge the upcoming Australian Federal Election on September 14 2013.WASHINGTON -- A coalition of activists and journalists, including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the Department of Defense and the military judge overseeing the case of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. The suit aims to open up access to the military trial, in which Manning is fighting to avoid a life sentence after admitting to leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive documents to Wikileaks.

The same group previously filed a similar lawsuit in military courts that was shot down in a 3-2 ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces last month. Now its members are continuing their legal quest in a civilian federal district court in Baltimore, hoping to overrule the military. The Wednesday filing comes just one day after the judge overseeing the Manning trial ruled that 24 prosecution witnesses could testify in secret.

"The federal civilian courts are now our last option," said Shayana Kadidal, a senior attorney at the non-profit legal group representing the plaintiffs, the Center for Constitutional Rights. "If this lawsuit fails, Manning’s trial will take place under conditions where journalists and the public will be unable as a practical matter to follow what is going on in the courtroom."

Although physical access to Manning's pretrial hearings has generally been unimpeded, understanding the proceedings has often been made difficult by the fact that court orders, prosecution and defense motions and transcripts are rarely released. Large swathes of the docket have been kept hidden from public view.

Assange, who founded the transparency organization Wikileaks, has previously alleged the Manning proceedings will be a "show trial."

Assange's co-plaintiffs include Guardian columnist Glenn Greenwald, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, and The Nation magazine. They are seeking a preliminary injunction to force the release of many of the files currently kept hidden, and expect to have their case heard by Maryland U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Lipton Hollander, a President Barack Obama appointee, shortly after Manning's trial begins on June 3.


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reply to post by omega man


I support WikiLeaks and all that good stuff. The info needs to be out there but all I can say to Assange is, good luck with that.

-SAP-

The WikiLeaks political party is a step closer to being registered in Australia.

The Australian Electoral Commission on Wednesday published the constitution of the WikiLeaks Party and opened up the party's official registration for public comment until June 24.

WikiLeaks website founder Julian Assange plans to run for the Senate in Victoria at the September 14 election.However, he is currently living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been granted asylum to avoid being extradited to Sweden over alleged sexual offences.

The WikiLeaks Party aims to run Senate candidates in Victoria, NSW and Western Australia.

Among the party's objectives in its constitution are to "do all that is necessary to secure, develop and protect human rights and freedoms" and to hold governments, unions and corporations accountable for their actions.

The 10 names on the party application do not include Mr Assange.

Independent Senator Nick Xenophon, who is seeking re-election to the Senate in South Australia, has also lodged an application to register a political party, the Nick Xenophon Group.

They can try all they want. They dont know who they're challenging. Good luck !