US military judge Col. Denise Lind on Tuesday ruled Bradley Manning, the US soldier who leaked classified information to whistleblower site Wikileaks, as "not guilty" of aiding the enemy.
It was the most serious of the charges he faced. Manning however had been found guilty on five charges of espionage, five of theft, one of computer fraud and a series of other military wrong-doings. He could still face long years of prison time.
The verdict was read in a courtroom in Fort Meade, a place in Maryland, not far from Washington D.C., while supporters gathered outside to demand his freedom.
Denise said her detailed reasoning would be released later and Manning's sentencing hearing, likely to be a protracted affair, is to begin on Wednesday morning.
Punishment for aiding the enemy was life imprisonment.
25-year-old Manning had released hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks while serving in Iraq.
The leaks included reports and other documents on the progress of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, which the prosecution argued had been access online by Osama Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda movement.
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