Wikileaks suspect Bradley Manning on trial

Bradley Manning allegedly sent 250,000 diplomatic cables and 500,000 battlefield reports from Afghanistan and Iraq to Wikileaks in 2009 and 2010.

He has pleaded guilty to 10 of the 22 charges against him but not to the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. It is considered the largest-ever leak of secret US government documents.

If found guilty of the more serious charges, Pte Manning, 25, faces up to life in prison.

Pte Manning, who was arrested in May 2010 while serving in Iraq, has not denied leaking the documents. He told a pre-trial hearing in February he divulged the documents to spark a public debate on the role of the US military and foreign policy.

However, prosecutors arguing on behalf of the US government say the leaks damaged national security and endangered American lives. One of the leaked videos shows graphic footage of an Apache helicopter attack in 2007 that killed a dozen people in Baghdad, including a Reuters photographer.

"The most alarming aspect of the video to me was the seemingly delightful bloodlust the aerial weapons team happened to have," he said at the pre-trial hearing, comparing the troops to children "torturing ants with a magnifying glass".

Other documents leaked included thousands of battlefield reports from Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as secure messages between US embassies and the state department in Washington.

Dozens of witnesses are expected to testify at the trial.

He will get a 112-day reduction in any jail sentence he receives after a judge ruled he had suffered unduly harsh treatment during his nine-month detention after his arrest.

Meanwhile the UK government said on Sunday it was considering a request from Ecuador to hold talks on the future of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Mr Assange has lived in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for a year, having been granted political asylum there. He faces extradition to Sweden over sex allegations, which he denies.