Chelsea Manning: Jailed American analyst frees after refusing to testify before WikiLeaks grand jury



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Former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was released after incarceration for refusing to testify before a grand jury charged with investigating WikiLeaks.

Ms. Manning spent 62 days in jail for contempt of court, but was released as the sentence of the grand jury she was supposed to testify.

However, the ex-army employee, who has served seven years in jail for delivering a huge amount of confidential material to WikiLeaks, could be jailed again a week or so later.


She received another subpoena requiring her to testify before a new grand jury, beginning on May 16.

Under US federal law, a person summoned by a grand jury may be imprisoned for civil contempt if the judges feel it has a chance to compel them to testify.

Earlier this week, Ms. Manning's lawyers filed court documents claiming that she should no longer be sentenced to prison because she proved that she adhered to her principles and did not would not testify, no matter how long he was incarcerated.

If a judge decided that Mrs. Manning's incarceration was punitive rather than coercive, she would not be imprisoned.

"At this point, given the sacrifices she has already made, her strong tenets, her strong and growing support community, and the shame accompanying her surrender, it is inconceivable that Chelsea Manning ever changes her mind to about his refusal to cooperate with the grand jury, "wrote his lawyer.

Ms. Manning filed an eight-page statement in court Monday outlining her resolution.

She wrote that "cooperation with this grand jury is simply not an option, it would mean giving up all my principles, achievements, sacrifices and erasing decades of my reputation – an obvious impossibility," she said. she writes.

She also reported disproportionately suffering in prison because of physical problems related to inadequate follow-up care following a sexual conversion surgery.

Ms. Manning was working for the army in Iraq in 2010 when she was arrested and charged with disclosing 700,000 documents, diplomatic cables and videos.

She was accused of endangering the lives of US soldiers, but said she had acted to open the debate on US foreign policy.

His 35-year sentence was the longest in the history of the United States, and President Barack Obama described it as "disproportionate" in relation to his crimes. He commuted the rest of his sentence in 2017, just before leaving office.

Additional reports by agencies

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