Leaker Manning sentenced to 35 years

US Army Private Bradley Manning has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for his leaking of classified material to Wikileaks. His "time served" while awaiting trial, deemed as "illegally punished" by the judge, will reduce his time to 33 years. However, he could be eligible for parole after having served about one third of his sentence.

Manning told the court in February that he leaked the information in order to "spark a domestic debate as to the role of the military and foreign policy in general".

He was cleared of the most serious charge of "aiding the enemy", which carries the death penalty. His defense lawyer argued that he only serve 25 years so that the sentence didn't rob him of his youth.

Because the sentence includes a dishonorable discharge and confinement for a year or more, the case will be automatically reviewed by the army court of criminal appeals.

Manning's defense attorney, David Coombs, is scheduled to give a press conference about the sentence at 6.30pm BST today.