But US appealed decision saying the judge had abused his discretion

He was freed in prisoner swap for five Taliban leaders, but later charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy

Taliban captured the 30-year-old after he left his 2009 post in Afghanistan

Bergdahl's lawyers have been granted access to classified material, a military appeals court has ruled

US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's case will resume now that his lawyers have been granted access to classified material in order to prepare for his defense, a military appeals court has ruled.

Bergdahl, 30, walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured by the Taliban, who held him prisoner for five years until the US government controversially swapped his freedom for five Taliban members held in Guantanamo Bay.

Legal proceedings against Bergdahl, who faces a potential life sentence for desertion and misbehavior, were put to a halt after his defense requested access to 300,000 pages of classified documents.

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US Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's case will resume now that his lawyers have been granted access to classified material in order to prepare for his defense, a military appeals court has ruled

Legal proceedings against Bergdahl were put to a halt after his defense requested access to 300,000 pages of classified documents (pictured, Bergdahl, right, arriving at Ft. Bragg courthouse with attorney in January 2016)

The United States Army Court of Criminal Appeals granted the defense access to classified information on Thursday, but the decision was not publicly revealed until late Saturday by Bergdahl's attorney Eugene Fidell.

Bergdahl was freed in a prisoner swap in May 2014 that led to therelease of five Taliban leaders who were being held by the U.S.The exchange was criticized by Republicans in Congress.

Bergdahl returned to active duty, but after an investigation, he was prosecuted by the US military who said disappearing from his post resulted in a 45-day search that putsoldiers' lives at risk.

The formal charges in his court-martial are desertion andmisbehavior before the enemy. He has not entered a plea to thecharges or decided whether he will be tried by a military judgeor a jury of soldiers.

BOWE BERGDAHL'S STORY Sgt Bergdahl, 29, faces life in prison for the charge of deserting his troop. Bergdahl went missing on the night of June 30, 2009, near the town of Yahya Kheyl in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. In the first episode of the new season of hit podcast Serial, Ms. Koenig said that as Sergeant Bergdahl stood, scared, in the open Afghan terrain, he briefly contemplated returning to his outpost. Instead, he altered his initial plan, which was to trek 18 miles to a larger military base to raise concerns about problems in his unit. He decided he would track Taliban insurgents placing improvised explosive devices in the road and deliver that information to his superiors. How and when he was captured by the Taliban have remained the source of contention since that night. But he was held by the Taliban for five years - until the U.S. government controversially swapped his freedom for five Taliban members from Guantanamo Bay The swap set off a charged debate over whether Bergdahl was a traitor who had endangered his comrades or a confused soldier who had wanted to warn senior commanders about problems in his platoon. Advertisement

Bergdahl, now 30, walked away from his post in Afghanistan in 2009 and was captured by the Taliban, who held him prisoner for five years and tortured him. Pictured, his captor displaying his identity tag in Afghanistan, 2009

A military judge granted the defense's request to access 300,000 pages of classified documents on February 2.

But the US government appealed the ruling saying the judge hadabused his discretion. The pre-trial proceedings were put onhold while the issue was being resolved.

The Army Court of Criminal Appeals said in its ruling thatthe military judge had not granted the defense unfettered accessto classified information, but only to material in the contextof the trial.

"The stay on the trial proceedings imposed by this court islifted," the judges of the Army Court of Criminal Appeals ruled.

Bergdahl is free while he awaits trial and is stationed atFort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where he works at a deskjob and receives treatment at a hospital.