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Chelsea Manning was again behind bars on Thursday night after being sentenced to a second time for contempt of court after refusing to cooperate with a grand jury.
A provocative Manning told judge Anthony Trenga in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, that she "would rather starve" rather than do what the state insisted and testify before the grand jury. Having already spent 62 days in prison, including 28 in solitary confinement, she is now at risk of 18 months more in detention.
Trenga again tightened ties with the former army soldier by adding a financial penalty. If Manning continues to refuse to testify and stays in jail after 30 days, she will be fined $ 500 for each subsequent day behind bars. If it reaches 60 days, the figure will increase to $ 1,000 a day.
The battle around the grand jury announces as an epic battle of wills between Virginia prosecutors determined to compel Manning to testify as part of what they hope to be a possible trial of Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks , and former intelligence analyst, who has turned out to have a challenging series. In one video recording she said the day she was released from prison a week ago after the expiry of the first grand jury, she said, "I will never agree to testify before this grand jury. The government knows that I can not be forced.
The grand jury before which Manning was sentenced is presumed to have a connection with the criminal proceedings against Assange. Assange has been accused of conspiring with Manning to rob military computers to help convey a multitude of US state secrets to the organization of open information. in 2010.
Following Thursday's hearing, Manning's lawyer, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, said: "In 2010, Chelsea made the decision to leave the world with the true nature of modern asymmetric warfare. It is telling that the US has always been more concerned with the disclosure of these documents than the overwhelming substance of these disclosures. "
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