Russia slams violation of human rights in US

Russia wants the U.S. to respect the human rights of a soldier accused of the largest leak of information in American history, a senior Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. Konstantin Dolgov, the ministry's commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, criticized the U.S. after a special report from U.N. Human Rights envoy Juan Ernesto Mendez accused the American government of "inhuman and degrading treatment" concerning Army Private Bradley Manning. Manning, 24, was arrested in May 2010 for allegedly leaking hundreds of thousands of classified cables and battlefield reports from Iraq and Afghanistan to the WikiLeaks website. The private, who has complained of being held in solitary confinement, of bullying by guards and of being subjected to an ultra restrictive regime, faces 22 charges, including abetting the enemy. That charge carries a maximum punishment of life in prison. The other charges carry a combined maximum of more than 150 years behind bars. Dolgov criticized in a commentary what he called Americans authorities' "inhuman" treatment of Manning, saying that the U.S. must pay attention to Mendez's report. "Judging from the big importance Washington lays to the human rights and freedoms issues, we expect the U.S. authorities would act in a strict compliance with their international obligations toward their own citizens, including Manning," Dolgov said.