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Manning’s mental health focus of pretrial hearing

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, center, is escorted to a security vehicle outside of a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012, after attending a pretrial hearing. Manning is charged with aiding the enemy by causing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to be published on the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks. (Patrick Semansky / Associated Press)
David Dishneau Associated Press

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — The mental health of a U.S. Army private is the focus of a pretrial hearing on charges that he gave classified information to the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks.

The hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning resumes Wednesday at Fort Meade in Maryland. He’s seeking dismissal of the case, alleging he was illegally punished before trial by being held in needlessly harsh conditions.

The defense is seeking testimony from an officer whose command included the Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va. Manning was held there for nine months in highly restrictive, maximum custody and “prevention of injury” status.

The former installation commander, retired Col. Daniel Choike (CHOY’-kee), testified Tuesday that brig commanders refused to ease Manning’s confinement conditions as recommended by psychiatrists.

Manning faces a possible life sentence if convicted of aiding the enemy.