The trial date for a US Army private accused of passing a trove of secret documents to WikiLeaks has been pushed back from February to March next year, a military judge said Sunday. The court-martial of Bradley Manning, 24, charged with the most serious security breach in American history, previously had been scheduled to begin on February 4.

But the judge, Colonel Denise Lind, announced at a pre-trial hearing north of Washington in Fort Meade, Maryland that more time was needed to handle various motions from bothh the defence and prosecution Due to last about six weeks, the court-martial could begin March 6 or 18, depending on the pace of legal proceedings, the judge said.

The latest round of pre-trial hearings that began Tuesday has focused on Manning's detention for nine months at a brig in Quantico, Virginia.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012