by Neely Fuller, Jr.
Spanning nearly three weeks and comprising more than a dozen witnesses, the Article 13 hearing on the defense’s motion to dismiss based on unlawful punishment was PFC Bradley Manning’s longest pretrial hearing yet. The defense has moved to throw out all charges against the WikiLeaks whistleblower, arguing that the military has violated the UCMJ’s Article 13, which prohibits pretrial punishment. Through testimony from prison guards, high-ranking military officials, and Bradley himself, defense lawyer David Coombs chronicled Bradley’s eleven months in solitary confinement, focusing on the nine months in the Quantico Marine brig, from July 29, 2010, through April 20, 2011.
Earlier in July, three-star General George Flynn emailed the Quantico chain of command, notifying officials of Bradley’s impending arrival and explaining that he believed Bradley was a suicide risk. When Manning got to the brig, he was evaluated and determined to need only medium security. But the Duty Brig Supervisor, likely influenced by Gen. Flynn’s directive, overrode that determination and placed Manning on Suicide Risk (SR) watch. From then on, Manning was on SR or Prevention of Injury (POI) watch throughout his entire imprisonment at Quantico. Gen. Flynn was updated weekly on Manning’s treatment.
At Quantico Bradley was in a 6×8 ft cell for 23 hours a day, got only 20 minutes of sunshine daily for his first six months, had to eat alone in his cell, wore metal shackles on his arms and legs whenever he left it, couldn’t talk to other detainees, was monitored verbally every few minutes and visually around the clock, and had to ask guards to use books, soap, or even toilet paper.
Coombs described the impact of these conditions in his only public appearance, on December 3: “Brad’s treatment at Quantico will forever be etched into our nation’s history as a disgraceful moment in time.”
Tags: bradley manning, quantico