US Army Private First Class Bradley Manning has appeared before a court martial, accused of the biggest leak of classified information in US history.

Manning is accused of providing more than 700,000 secret documents to the WikiLeaks website. 

At the opening of the case, Manning's defense lawyer portrayed him as a naive, young soldier. He said Manning leaked documents, combat videos and other data because he wanted to reveal the human cost of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

A military prosecutor said, "This is a case of what happens when arrogance meets access to classified networks." The prosecution says the leaks were of great interest to adversaries and enemies.

Manning has been jailed since his arrest three years ago. He faces a possible life sentence without parole if he is convicted.

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