Manning Says He Wants To Live As Woman

Bradley Manning, the US soldier sentenced for leaking classified documents, has said he wants to live the rest of his life as a woman.

"As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me.

"I am Chelsea Manning. I am female," Manning said in a statement to NBC.

"Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible.

Manning will serve his sentence in a military prison

"I hope that you will support me in this transition.

"I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility)," the statement read.

Manning, 25, signed the letter "Chelsea E. Manning".

The confession came a day after Manning was sentenced to 35 years in a military prison for turning over classified files to WikiLeaks in the biggest breach of secret data in US history.

He had been found guilty of 20 charges ranging from espionage to theft for leaking more than 700,000 documents to the whistle-blowing website while working in Iraq in 2010.

The prosecution had sought to portray him as a traitor, asking for at least a 60-year term.

But he was not convicted of the more serious crime of aiding the enemy, which could have carried a life sentence without parole.

Julian Assange has called the sentence a 'tactical victory'

Manning will be eligible for parole within nine years.

His lawyers argued during the trial that Manning suffered extreme inner turmoil over his gender identity - his feeling that he was a woman trapped in a man's body - while serving in the macho military, which at the time barred gays from serving openly.

Among the evidence was a photo of him in a blonde wig and lipstick.

The defence team also maintained he was an idealistic soldier who wanted to expose brutal truths about America's military and diplomatic corps, and generate debate over the wars and US policy.

During the sentencing phase, he apologised for the damage he caused, saying: "When I made these decisions, I believed I was going to help people, not hurt people."

Manning supporters have called for his release

His lawyer said after the sentencing that Manning plans to send a letter to Barack Obama to request a presidential pardon.

"If you deny my request for a pardon, I will serve my time knowing that sometimes you have to pay a heavy price to live in a free society," said the text of the letter.

"I will gladly pay that price if it means we could have a country that is truly conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all women and men are created equal."

Manning is to serve his sentence in Fort Leavenworth, home to the American military's most famous prison.

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