Bradley Manning Found Guilty on Most Counts, Acquitted of Aiding the Enemy

A military judge on Tuesday found Pfc. Bradley Manning not guilty of aiding the enemy, but convicted him of multiple counts of violating the Espionage Act.

Private Manning had previously confessed to being WikiLeaks’ source for the leaked files.

But while Private Manning has pleaded guilty to a lesser version of the charges he is facing, which could expose him to up to 20 years in prison, the government decided to press forward with a trial on a more serious version of the charges, including "aiding the enemy" and violations of the Espionage Act.

The "aiding the enemy" charge is unheard of in a leak case and was the most serious of 21 counts. It carried a possible life sentence without parole.

Manning was convicted of five espionage counts, five theft charges, a computer fraud charge and other military infractions.

His sentencing hearing is set to begin on Wednesday.

The files he exposed included videos of airstrikes in which civilians were killed, hundreds of thousands of front-line incident reports from both Afghanistan and Iraq, dossiers on conditions at the Guantânamo Bay prison, and around a quarter of a million diplomatic cables.