The
National Lawyers Guild (NLG) calls for the dismissal of all charges against
Bradley Manning. The Army announced on Friday that Manning will face a general
court martial for allegedly leaking classified information about U.S. policy
and practices relating to, among other things, the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
NLG
President David Gespass, said, “Manning’s prosecution is calculated to distract
us from the real problem, that the U.S. government is once again hiding from
the public proof of crimes committed in our name.”
Manning is
a U.S. Army soldier accused of transferring classified data to his personal
computer and sending it to the whistleblowing website Wikileaks. He faces 22
charges including “aiding the enemy,” a capital offense.
Kathleen
Gilberd, executive director of the NLG’s Military Law Task Force (MLTF) said,
“Manning is being prosecuted for patriotic acts akin to the release of the
Pentagon Papers in 1971. His prosecution highlights both the way that military
proceedings subvert fundamental due process rights and the dangers of
government secrecy to a free society.”
The
potential for prosecutorial abuse stems from the power that commanding officers
have as the convening authorities over court martial hearings. The convening
authority selects the officer who first investigates a case, recommends charges
against the accused, and then selects the “members” of the court martial, who
form the jury. Particularly in a high profile case such as this, where the
government has already indicated its determination to convict and punish
Manning, the ability of the convening authority to control the process and the
outcome is overwhelming.
“The court
martial system is fraught from beginning to end with the danger of command
influence,” noted MLTF Chair James Branum. “It has permeated this case from the
beginning and emanated from the Commander-in-Chief on down, making due process
impossible. In this situation, dismissal of all charges is the only just
option.”
The
Military Law Task Force grew out of the National Lawyers Guild’s Military Law
Offices, which provided counsel for GIs in Asia during the Vietnam War. The
MLTF includes attorneys, legal workers, law students and “barracks lawyers”
interested in draft, military and veterans issues. It is an active committee of
the National Lawyers Guild and has been providing representation and advice to
service members for decades.
The
National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 and is the oldest and largest public
interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters
are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
Contact: Nathan Tempey, Communications Coordinator, 212-679-5100, ext. 15
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