WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning admitted falling apart during his detention and contemplating suicide as he took the stand Thursday for the first time at a pre-trial hearing.
US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning (C) arrives for a hearing on November 28 in Fort Meade, Maryland. Manning admitted falling apart during his detention and contemplating suicide as he took the stand Thursday for the first time at a pre-trial hearing.
The 24-year-old US Army private, who faces possible life imprisonment over his alleged document dump to the secret-spilling WikiLeaks website, said he "started to fall apart" not long after being detained in May 2010.
During three hours of testimony, Manning showed flashes of humor as he calmly recounted the severe restrictions and monotony he endured in his pre-trial confinement in Kuwait and then at a brig in Quantico, Virginia.
Manning is asking the court to dismiss his case because of alleged illegal punishment he suffered during his pre-trial detention for nine months at the Quantico brig, where he was kept under suicide watch and placed in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day.
Manning, accused of the worst security breach in American history, faces a slew of charges over his alleged disclosures to the WikiLeaks website, which embarrassed the US government and rankled Washington's allies.
Defense lawyer David Coombs focused his questions on Manning's detention in Iraq and Kuwait and then at a Marine Corps brig in Quantico, Virginia in July 2010.
Manning said that soon after his detention he lost phone privileges and started to feel increasingly anxious and distressed.
"I totally started to fall apart," said the baby-faced soldier, clad in a blue dress uniform.
Before his transfer to Quantico, Manning said guards at a US brig in Kuwait repeatedly searched his cell and scattered his possessions.
He said he felt increasingly "hopeless."
Manning said he soon had suicidal thoughts, which he conveyed to mental health counselors.
"I certainly contemplated it a few times," he said.
"I had pretty much given up. My world had just shrunk."
Manning said he worried he might be transferred to the US-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or some other remote location and was pleasantly surprised when he learned he was being flown to the United States.
At Quantico, Manning said he had his glasses taken away, had to request toilet paper and was forced to remove his underwear at night and then sleep on an uncomfortable mattress designed for inmates deemed a suicide risk.
At Thursday's hearing in Fort Meade, Maryland, north of the US capital, Manning was asked to step from the dock and stand near an outline of his narrow cell at Quantico, which was drawn on the floor of the courtroom.
As he pointed out details of the six-by-eight-foot cell, including its toilet and sink, he was asked to try on a heavy "suicide smock" similar to the one he had to wear to bed during his detention.
He told the court the smock was made of "coarse" material that caused him to break out in a rash. He said blankets he was given were also made of the same material and did not retain heat.
During a period on "suicide risk" status, guards outside the cell kept him under constant watch and Manning said he was not allowed to lie down during the day or lean against the wall.
The suicide risk status was later lifted but he remained under a "prevention of injury" regime that he said was not much better.
During the course of his testimony, Manning appeared to grow more at ease and smiled occasionally as he described his time at Quantico with a dose of sarcasm.
Intense monotony from his isolation led him to dance inside his cell and to make faces in the mirror, which he said was the result of "sheer, complete out-of-my-mind boredom."
"The most entertaining thing in the room was the mirror," he said, prompting laughter in the courtroom, where supporters sat watching in the gallery.
Two US military psychiatrists told the court earlier that the harsh conditions imposed on Manning at the Quantico brig were unnecessary, unprecedented in duration and against their medical advice.
Captain William Hocter, a Navy doctor who evaluated Manning about every week in 2010, told the court Wednesday the suicide watch was "senseless" and that the army private showed no sign of being suicidal.
His treatment at Quantico sparked an international outcry and a UN rapporteur on torture concluded Manning was subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment at the brig.
After his detention from July 2010 to April 2011 at Quantico, Manning was transferred to a prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, where authorities concluded he was not a suicide risk and was granted regular privileges.