Bradley Manning gets 35-Year Prison Sentence in Wikileaks case

The U.S. soldier convicted of handing over secret government documents to anti-secrecy website Wikileaks was sentenced to 35 years in prison on Wednesday

The sentencing comes a month after Pte First Class Bradley Manning was convicted of 20 charges against him, including espionage.

Last week, Manning apologized for hurting the U.S. and for "the unexpected results" of his actions.

Prosecutors were calling for a 60-year sentence, but Manning will receive credit for the time he has already served in incarceration.

The 25-year-old will also be given 112 days' credit to compensate for the tough conditions of his time behind bars immediately after his arrest.

On Tuesday, Judge Col Denise Lind told the military courtroom in Fort Meade, Maryland, that Manning would be dishonorably discharged from the U.S. Army and would forfeit some of his pay.

The slightly-built soldier showed no signs of emotion as the sentence was delivered.

Manning’s supporters shouted: "We'll wait for you, Bradley", and "Thank you, Bradley, we love you" as he was led away, the BBC reports.

He worked as a junior intelligence analyst and passed hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports and diplomatic cables to Wikileaks while he was stationed in Iraq in 2010.

Manning said at an earlier hearing that he leaked the secret files in the hopes of sparking a public debate about American foreign policy.