A legal defense fund for the US soldier suspected of leaking secret US documents to WikiLeaks said Thursday it has received a 15,000 dollars contribution from the website.
US Army private Bradley Manning, 23, has been held in a military brig in Virginia since July on suspicion of leaking secret US military documents and State Department cables to WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks has repeatedly said it does not know whether Manning was the source of the documents but has pledged to help with his defense.
The Bradley Manning Support Network said in a statement on Thursday published at bradleymanning.org that WikiLeaks had transferred 15,100 dollars on Monday to the legal trust account of Manning's attorney.
"This donation from WikiLeaks is vital to our efforts to ensure Bradley receives a fair, open trial," said Support Fund founder and steering committee member Mike Gogulski.
The group said the WikiLeaks contribution brings the total funds raised and transferred to Bradley's civilian legal defence team to over 100,000 dollars, just short of the 115,000 dollars needed "to mount a vigorous defence."
Manning, who worked as a low-ranking army intelligence analyst in Iraq, was arrested in May and later transferred to the US Marine Corps base at Quantico in Virginia.