Pvt. Bradley Manning, the lone soldier who stands accused of stealing millions of pages of secret US government documents and handing them over to secrets outlet WikiLeaks, wants his supporters to know that they've meant a lot to him.

"I greatly appreciate everyone’s support and well wishes during this time," he said in a Christmas Eve statement released by his lawyer.

"I'm also thankful for everything that has been done to aid in my defense," Manning continued. "I ask that everyone takes the time to remember those who are separated from their loved ones at this time due to deployment and important missions.

"Specifically, I am thinking of those that I deployed with and have not seen for the last seven months, and of the staff here at the Quantico Confinement Facility who will be spending their Christmas without their family."

In a recent conversation with Firedoglake's David House, Manning  claimed that military officials have kept him in solitary confinement for the last seven months. Salon's Glenn Greenwald noted that the conditions in which Manning is held "constitute cruel and inhumane treatment and, by the standards of many nations, even torture."