Chelsea Manning requests presidential pardon

Chelsea Manning, formerly known as Bradley Manning, asked President Obama to pardon him for handing over thousands of secret documents to WikiLeaks.

Manning's lawyer David. E. Coombs filed the formal request for presidential pardon on Tuesday, nearly two weeks after Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Coombs asked Obama to either reduce her sentence to time Manning has already served since her arrest in 2010, or for a full presidential pardon. In either case, Manning would be free to go.

In the request's cover letter, Coombs wrote that all Manning did was share documents with "a journalist," stressing that Manning's actions didn't harm the United States and that her punishment is disproportionate:

The length of Private Manning's sentence is one that we would expect for someone who disclosed information in order to harm the United States or who disclosed information for monetary gain. Private Manning did neither.

Instead, he disclosed information that he believed could spark a meaningful public debate on the costs of war, and specifically on how we value human life.

(source)