The alleged source behind the largest leak of state secrets in U.S. history is expected to speak publicly for the first time since his arrest in May 2010 at a pretrial hearing Tuesday afternoon.

The hearing is part of legal proceedings ahead of a full court martial scheduled for Feb. 4.

Pfc. Bradley Manning’s lawyers are seeking to have any sentence eventually imposed on him reduced or dismissed on the grounds that the conditions of his detainment at the Marine base at Quantico, Va., constituted pretrial punishment. People and organizations around the world have condemned the military for what the U.N. special rapporteur on torture said amounted to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of article 16 of the [U.N.] convention against torture.”

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.