Court of Appeal rejects Chelsea Manning's efforts to get out of jail



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A federal court of appeal on Monday rejected the prison release request of former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating Wikileaks.

The three-paragraph unanimous decision of a panel of three judges of the US Court of Appeals 4th Circuit in Richmond rejects Manning's argument that she was wrongfully found in a civil contempt of court and her claim to bail while the contempt decision was dismissed.

Manning has been imprisoned at the Alexandria Detention Center since March 8 after refusing to testify before the Wikileaks grand jury.

Since his incarceration, criminal proceedings against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange have been revealed and US authorities have requested his extradition. Manning's lawyers argued that his testimony was unnecessary, in part because Assange had already been charged.

Manning spent seven years in a military prison for disclosing to Wikileaks a plethora of military and diplomatic documents before the then president, Barack Obama, commuted the remainder of his 35-year sentence.

Manning's lawyers also testified that she told the authorities everything she knew during her court martial investigation and that her incarceration was unnecessarily cruel because the prison was not in the dark. able to provide adequate medical care as part of a sexual reassignment operation that Manning had undergone.

Prosecutors responded that they thought that Manning, who had obtained immunity for his testimony before a grand jury, could say more about his interactions with Wikileaks than what had been leaked before, and that Manning is off-line for disrupting the grand jury process simply on his assumptions. that she is the target of harassment. They also say that the prison did its best to meet its medical needs.

Prosecutors described Manning's leak on Wikileaks as one of the largest classified information tradeoffs in US history.

Monday's announcement was made by Allyson Duncan judges, appointed by George W. Bush; Paul Niemayer, a George H.W. Named by Bush; and Robert King, appointed by Bill Clinton.

Manning said in a statement issued by her legal team that she was considering appealing the entire 4th Circuit or Supreme Court.

"I have nothing to contribute to this, nor to any other grand jury," she said. "While I miss my home, they can keep me in jail, with all the damaging consequences, I will not give up."

Her lawyer, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, stated that she did not believe that Manning's testimony was necessary to the grand jury.

"The likely object of his subpoena is to assist the prosecutor in previewing and compromising his possible testimony as a defense witness of an ongoing trial" of Assange, a she said.

Under the terms of the judge's finding regarding contempt of court, Manning will remain in prison until she agrees to testify or until the end of the grand jury's sentence. This date is unknown.

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