Manning still on witness list in WikiLeaks trial

FORT MEADE - The Associated Press

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, center, steps out of a security vehicle as he is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, for a pretrial hearing. Manning is charged with aiding the enemy by causing hundreds of thousands of classified documents to be published on the secret-sharing website WikiLeaks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Pfc. Bradley Manning remains on the list of prospective witnesses for a pretrial hearing on charges he gave classified documents to WikiLeaks.

The hearing at Fort Meade enters its third day Thursday. Manning’s lawyers argue that all charges should be dismissed due to what they called officials’ needlessly harsh treatment of the prisoner during his nine months of confinement in a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va.

Other potential witnesses include a military psychiatrist who examined Manning at Quantico, and the former commander of the confinement facility at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to which Manning was later moved.

Manning faces 22 counts, including aiding the enemy, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. He is charged with sending Wikileaks hundreds of thousands of classified war logs and diplomatic cables.