From The Bradley Manning Support Network-Marines’ found they mistreated Manning at Quantico brig, then tried to hide the report

Marines’ found they mistreated Manning at Quantico brig, then tried to hide the report

July 14, 2011. Bradley Manning Support Network. (Spokespersons available upon request)

According to documents released today by Politico, a finding by the Marines that PFC Bradley Manning was subjected to abuse at the Quantico brig where he was held for almost a year in pre-trial confinement was overruled by the brig Commander who ordered the investigation. Brig Commander James Averhart, Jr. rejected the Marine investigator’s finding that PFC Manning should have been taken off of “prevention of injury” watch immediately following the brig psychiatrist’s repeated finding that he was at no risk of harm to himself.

“The memos revealed today by Politico confirm that military officials repeatedly violated their own standards of detainee treatment while PFC Manning was held in abusive pre-trial confinement conditions at the Quantico brig. Commander Averhart should never have been put in a position to reject the military’s investigation into his own unprofessional conduct,” said Kevin Zeese, an attorney with the Bradley Manning Support Network. “Justice demands that the charges against PFC Manning be dropped, because the government has acknowledged that they have abused the rights of a soldier in their custody.”

“President Obama can no longer hide behind his subordinates in claiming that the treatment of PFC Manning has met ‘basic standards’ of conduct,” added Jeff Paterson, a co-founder of the Bradley Manning Support Network. “Clearly, by the government’s own admission, the treatment of PFC Manning has fallen far short of the standards demanded by the Constitution.”


Politico’s revelations follow a statement from the United Nations’ chief torture investigator, Juan Mendez on Monday of this week, expressing concerns that his requests to meet and talk candidly with PFC Bradley Manning about his confinement conditions continue to be frustrated by the Obama Administration.

Today’s Politico article by Josh Gerstein is online at: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/58991.html

The full news release of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is online at: http://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=11231&LangID=E