US soldier Bradley Manning, was escorted into a military courthouse for a procedural hearing ahead of an expected full court martial.

Wearing a beret and accompanied by military police, he is charged with downloading 700,000 classified military documents including aiding the enemy, wrongfully causing intelligence to be used on the internet and theft of public property.

He downloaded the documents to Wikileaks which promotes leaking government and corporate information.

Manning's attorney, David Coombs, has filed several motions that call for all charges to be dismissed on the grounds that prosecutors have mishandled the case. Coombs complains in the court filings that prosecutors have not handed over documents during the discovery process, which he says is a violation of military court rules.