The court martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the man accused of giving classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, will continue on Wednesday when Manning's immediate superior officers will take the stand, according to Reuters.
Adrian Lamo, the former hacker responsible for turning Manning in to military authorities, took the stand on Tuesday. The two men never met each other but exchanged emails and talked using a chat service on their computers. Lamo was arrested for hacking into the networks of a myriad of companies when he was 22, the same age Manning was when turning over information to WikiLeaks, and he testified that he saw similarities between himself and Manning, according to The New York Times.
Shortly after their first conversation Lamo alerted authorities. Several of their discussions that took place later on were done so under government guidance, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The ex-hacker responded to most of the questions with a simple "yes." Lamo revealed that the reason Manning did not sell the documents to a foreign country was because he felt that they should be seen by the public, reports The New York Times.
Lamo also testified about what a dark place Manning was in when they had their online conversations. In their conversations Manning told Lamo about the toll the war had taken on him and about how he had considered committing suicide. Manning confided in Lamo that he was "morally and emotionally" troubled as well as a "broken soul," according to the Los Angeles Times.
There has been an enormous amount of public interest in the Manning case including a fair share of protesters. Court-martials rarely receive the amount of attention that some high profile civilian cases may receive. David J.R. Frakt, a military law expert at the University of Pittsburgh, spoke with the Washington Post about the unique situation.
"I think the judge is very concerned about not turning the trial into a theater, into a spectacle," Frakt said. "I cannot remember a situation where there was such a high degree of civilian interest, people not affiliated with the military, having intense and passionate interest in the case."
One of Manning's superior officers that will be taking the stand on Wednesday is Jhirleah Showman. While Manning was serving under Showman as an intelligence analyst in Iraq he had a violent outburst and ended up punching Showman. Showman testified in a hearing that the incident was one of many such outbursts that she saw Manning have, according to the Washington Post.
The Manning trial is expected to last until at least August.
