Pfc. Bradley Manning suffered illegal pretrial punishment while in a Marine Corps brig, a military judge ruled Tuesday as she reduced a potential sentence for the former Army intelligence analyst accused of leaking hordes of classified documents.
Col. Denise Lind ruled that Manning, 25, if convicted, would have his prison sentence reduced by 112 days, the Associated Press reported.
The ruling came during a pretrial hearing at Ft. Meade, Md., outside Washington.
Manning's attorney David E. Coombs had asked Lind to dismiss the charges against Manning, arguing that the private's nine-month solitary confinement in a Marine brig in Quantico, Va., was illegal punishment.
Manning, facing 22 criminal charges, allegedly leaked hundreds of thousands of diplomatic cables and classified reports regarding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to the website WikiLeaks. He could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted.