Bradley Manning to serve prison time as a WOMAN named Chelsea
AMERICAN whistleblower Bradley Manning wants to serve his jail sentence as a woman and plans to begin hormone therapy, he revealed today.
The soldier was sentenced to 35 years in prison yesterday after being convicted of 20 offences including espionage for leaking 700,000 classified documents to Wikileaks.
In a written statement provided to American television channel NBC this morning, Manning said he planned to live as a woman named Chelsea.
Manning's struggle with gender identity disorder - his sense that he was a woman trapped in a man's body - was a key part of his defence.
Attorneys had presented evidence of Manning's struggle with gender identity, including a photo of the soldier in a blond wig and lipstick that he sent to a therapist.
Documents leaked by Manning included battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and State Department cables.
Prosecutors claim the leaks endangered people named in the papers as sources.
Private Manning must serve at least a third of his sentence.
Relatives said his mother Susan, 60, of Haverford West in mid-Wales, who has recently suffered a stroke, fears she will never see her son again.