An Army general is upholding Private Chelsea Manning's conviction and 35-year prison sentence for giving reams of classified U.S. government information to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks.

The Military District of Washington said Monday that Maj. Gen. Jeffery Buchanan has taken final action in the court-martial of the former intelligence analyst.

Manning was sentenced in August 2013 for six Espionage Act violations and 14 other offenses for leaking more than 700,000 secret military and State Department documents while serving in Iraq in 2009 and 2010.

As commander of the jurisdiction in which the trial was held, Buchanan could have approved or reduced the court-martial findings.

His action clears the way for an automatic appeal to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals.

 

Source: Associated Press