US trooper accused in WikiLeaks case appears in court

Bradley Manning, a United States soldier accused of disclosing secret cables to WikiLeaks, made his first court appearance for a pre-trial hearing on Friday. His lawyers argued that the reserve officer presiding over the proceedings should recuse himself for perceived bias.

The proceedings in a Maryland court are being held to determine whether Bradley, 24, should be tried on charges of staeling secret US cables and passing them over to WikiLeaks. If the charges against him are proved, he will have to spend the rest of his life in jail.

Defence lawyers said that because the reserve officer overseeing the hearing, Lieutenant Colonel Col Paul Almanza, has a day job at the department of justice, he cannot be impartial, ABC News reported.

The justice department is also investigating Manning, who made his first court appearance on Friday after more than a year-and-a-half of detention.

But Almanza denied the defence attorneys' request and said he would not recuse himself because a reasonable person would believe he could remain unbiased.

Earlier, Almanza asked Manning procedural questions like whether he had a copy of the charges against him.

"Yes, sir, I do," Manning replied.

Asked whether he had any questions, the accused replied, "No, sir."

To another question as to whether he was comfortable with his legal counsel, Manning said, "Yes, sir."

Manning, who wore his camouflage uniform and sported thick black-rimmed glasses during the hearing, is accused of downloading 260,000 US diplomatic cables, videos of American air strikes and US military reports from Afghanistan and Iraq between November 2009 and May 2010 while serving in Iraq and giving them to WikiLeaks. He was arrested on May 26, 2010.