FORT MEADE, Md. — Several former workers at a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Va., say that an Army private charged with providing classified information to the secret-spilling WikiLeaks website was so withdrawn that they considered him at risk of hurting himself. Testimony by ex-staff members continues Sunday at a pretrial hearing for Pfc. Bradley Manning. The hearing is to determine whether the highly restrictive conditions he experienced for nine months were justified. The defense claims the restrictions were so punishing that the case should be dismissed. Two psychiatrists have testified that the brig commander kept Manning tightly confined despite their recommendations to ease them. Manning, 24, is charged with 22 offenses, including aiding the enemy. He could get life in prison. Meanwhile, two of Manning's former prison guards have denied abusing him in custody, and described an incident where the US Army private suddenly burst into tears. Joshua Tankersly and Jonathan Cline recounted Saturday how when they were tasked with escorting Manning to a fitness room at Quantico brig on Jan. 18, 2011, the detainee broke down under their close watch. For hours the day before, dozens of demonstrators had blocked access to Quantico, in protest against the conditions of Manning's detention, which a UN rapporteur on torture has concluded amounted to cruel and inhumane treatment. The guards described what happened when they attempted to put restraints on Manning in the exercise room. “Detainee Manning was instructed to spread his feet” while they shackled his hands, and then “turn around, while we put the belt, and kneel while we put the legs restraints,” Cline said, noting that the soldier had to be “corrected” because he was “moving his hands when we put on his restraints. Tankersly said that when “we put him in restraints, he did not respond in a correct manner,” noting that he twice told Manning to “stop moving.” When they took off the restraints, he began moving again. “He fell down on his butt. We tried to catch him, he went hiding behind a weight machine and he began to cry,” Cline said. “It happened really fast,” the former guard said, adding that he did not understand why he was subsequently suspended for having “intimidated” Manning. — Agencies
