The U.S. soldier accused of sending thousands of classified documents to the WikiLeaks website has pleaded not guilty to aiding the enemy.
At a pretrial hearing in a military court in Fort Meade, Maryland, U.S. Army Private First Class Bradley Manning pleaded guilty to a series of 10 lesser charges.
He said he leaked documents to spark a "public debate" on military and foreign policy.
A military judge will now decide whether to accept the guilty plea.
The 25-year-old analyst, who was detained in May 2010 in Iraq, faces a total of 22 charges.
If the judge accepts Manning's plea he would face 20 years in prison.
But prosecutors can still pursue a court-martial on the remaining charges, including aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence.
The trial is set to begin on June 3.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP