Fort Meade: A military judge is barring the United Nations' torture investigator from testifying about the pre-trial detention of a US Army private charged with the biggest leak of classified information in the country's history.
Col Denise Lind's ruling in a pre-trial hearing today said Juan Mendez' testimony is irrelevant to whether Pfc Bradley Manning's nine months in maximum security confinement at a Marine Corps brig amounted to illegal punishment.
The court will hear arguments on that issue next month.
Mendez accused the United States last year of violating UN rules by refusing him unfettered access Manning.
The soldier is charged with aiding the enemy by passing thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks.
Manning was moved in April 2011 to medium-security confinement at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.
PTI
First Published: Friday, July 20, 2012, 12:26