Bradley Manning, the U.S. soldier sentenced to 35 years in prison for leaking classified documents, plans to ask President Obama for a pardon, his defence attorney reads in a statement.

The former low-level intelligence analyst turned over more than 700,000 classified files to the pro-transparency organization WikiLeaks in 2010.

The 25-year-old showed no emotion as the judge in Fort Meade, Maryland, read his sentence yesterday.

Manning could be eligible for parole in about a decade - a fact WikiLeaks called a "significant strategic victory" on its official Twitter feed.

 

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