On Wednesday, a military judge gave Manning a 35-year sentence for leaking around 700,000 government files through Wikileaks. The leak provided the public with military and diplomatic activities throughout the world, including documents on the abuse of detainees by Iraqi officers under the watch of American forces and number of civilian deaths during the Iraq war which were significantly higher than official estimates. 

This is the longest sentence handed down in a case involving a leak of U.S. government information to be reported to the public.  

He will apparently be eligible for parole in about eight years. 

Private Manning did not make a statement after his sentence was handed down. His lawyer, David Coombs, is expected to make a statement on his behalf later today. 

Read more at USA Today. 

 

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