Former computer hacker Adrian Lamo testified Tuesday that he reported Bradley Manning to authorities after the Army private admitted leaking thousands of pages of classified U.S. documents.

Manning is charged with 22 counts in the trial this week at Fort Meade near Baltimore, where activists associated with the online anarchist collective “Anonymous” have showed up to protest on behalf of the accused soldier. Manning admitted using his access to Army computers  to release classified information that was published by Julian Assange‘s WikiLeaks in 2010.

Lamo, a former computer hacker, has been demonized as a “snitch” by supporters of Manning, who confided his plans to leak the documents to Lamo in a series of online chats that included this message: “I’m an Army intelligence analyst, deployed to eastern Baghdad, pending discharge for ‘adjustment disorder.’  . . . If you had unprecedented access to classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a week for 8+ months, what would you do?”

Tuesday, Lamo testified for about a half-hour, and was cross-examined by Manning’s attorney David Coombs, who tried to portray his client as an idealist. Lamo testified that Manning said he believed that leaking the documents “would have impact on the entire world” and “might actually change things.” Lamo said Manning told him in the May 2010 online chats that he felt suicidal, fearing that he would be exposed as a homosexual, and said he “didn’t believe in good guys or bad guys anymore.”

READ MORE:

• Charlie Savage, New York Times: Computer Hacker Testifies in Manning Court-Martial Trial
• Julie Tate, Washington Post: Hacker Adrian Lamo testifies at Bradley Manning court-martial
• Richard A. Serrano, Los Angeles Times: Bradley Manning called himself a ‘broken soul,’ ex-hacker testifies