Chelsea Manning jailed for refusing to testify in WikiLeaks investigation
Former US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been jailed for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. In 2013, she was convicted of leaking classified government files, but was pardoned in 2017.
The US judge has convicted Chelsea Manning during a hearing in Alexandria, Virginia, for contempt of court, an Anglo-Saxon legal term that refers to a person who acts insulting or disrespectful towards a judge or court. According to the judge, Manning will remain in jail until she testifies or once the grand jury has completed the long-running, still unfinished investigation.
Her lawyers have argued in vain for Manning to be sent home and placed under house arrest, given her “medical complications.” However, the judge rejected this, stating that she can also count on adequate care behind bars.
During the hearing, Manning indicated that she does not intend to cooperate with a testimony. In addition, she said that she “will accept whatever the judge decides,” writes the AP news agency. She also said she is against the secrecy of the grand jury trial and that she has already revealed everything in previous court proceedings.
Manning was already considering the possibility that she would be locked up. She posted a on Twitter short statement in which she indicates that she stands by her principles, will use every legal means and is prepared to face the consequences of her stance. She says the grand jury’s questions violate several U.S. fundamental rights.
The whistleblower was sentenced in 2013 to 35 years in prison for, among other things, espionage, theft and computer fraud, but she was acquitted of treason. She was arrested in Iraq as part of the US military for passing stolen military and diplomatic information to WikiLeaks. It involved more than 700,000 documents and videos. US authorities were tipped off about Manning by hacker Adrian Lamo, who died in March last year.
Manning was eventually pardoned by former US President Barack Obama so that she was released early on May 17, 2017. Chelsea Manning decided to go through life as a woman in 2016 and received permission for a sex change operation in 2016 after going on a hunger strike. Before that, she had the name Bradley Manning.