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New Manning lawyer hits Espionage Act charges

A new lawyer for convicted leaker Army Pfc. Chelsea Manning is railing against the Obama administration's use of the Espionage Act in a wave of cases charging individuals with releasing classified information to the press or public.

"The Espionage Act was meant to punish spies and saboteurs. ... It was never meant for whistleblowers," attorney Nancy Hollander said Sunday night in a Skype call to a gathering of Manning supporters in Washington. "This is a draconian act. … It must be stopped if we’re to have any freedom of speech — if the First Amendment is to exist at all."

Manning (formerly known as Bradley Manning) was convicted at a court-martial last year of leaking hundreds of thousands of military reports and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks. A military judge sentenced Manning to 35 years in prison — far and away the longest sentence ever given in a leak case.

The sentence is not yet final because it awaits action by Manning's commander, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan. He can reduce or eliminate Manning's sentence or overturn the conviction.

Hollander also complained about military judge Col. Denise Lind's ruling that Manning could be convicted of Espionage Act charges without any proof of intent to harm the U.S. or aid another nation. "This is frightening to a lawyer," Hollander said. "It is frightening that the Espionage Act has essentially become a strict liability crime, that the only intent required is an intent to disclose."

Manning announced last month that she'd selected Hollander and Vincent Ward of Albuquerque, N.M., to handle her appeals. Manning's lead attorney at trial, David Coombs, said in a blog post last month that he was exiting the case after completing the filing of a clemency request with Buchanan.

Hollander vowed Sunday to see the case through to the end. "This appeal will take a long time. ... We will stay with this case until there are no more courts and nowhere else to go on behalf of Chelsea," she said.

Ward, who appeared in person at the Georgetown University Law Center event, said it was evident that Manning's sentence was too severe. "No reasonable person would think that the sentence that was imposed was a reasonable one," the former Navy prosecutor said. "I think the military system needs to answer for itself. ...There are issues that are very apparent about whether the military system was just to Chelsea or not."

Ward said Manning's lawyers were just beginning their review of the case but expect the appeal to focus on alleged violations of the Army intelligence analyst's speedy trial rights and on issues of unlawful command influence raised by public statements in which President Barack Obama and other senior officials declared Manning's guilt.

Manning is currently being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. A Manning supporter said Sunday that officials there have not accommodated the soldier's request for hormone therapy to treat diagnosed gender dysphoria. If the Army doesn't change its stance on that issue, litigation is likely, the Manning backer said.