Chelsea Manning to be released after court order

Chelsea Manning will be released shortly. A US federal judge ruled that her detention no longer serves a lawful purpose because the investigating jury no longer needs her. Manning has yet to pay a substantial fine.

The court order shows that the investigative jury was sent home by the judge on Thursday, because the jury’s investigative work is said to have been completed. As a result, the judge no longer deems it necessary for Manning to appear before this grand jury. The detention was aimed at forcing Manning to cooperate with the investigation. The latter is no longer an issue, which means that her detention can only be regarded as a punishment. Therefore, the judge ordered her release. Manning’s lawyers had already submitted a motion about this on 19 February.

Manning has yet to pay a $256,000 fine. That fine is related to her previous refusal to testify before the secret investigative jury. A year ago, a judge ruled that Manning was convicted of contempt of court, being abusive or disrespectful towards a judge or court. As a result, she had to go to jail for up to eighteen months. In May, she was briefly released because the term of the first grand jury had expired. A new indictment soon came, after which she had to be locked up again.

In theory, prosecutors could resubmit a subpoena, after which Manning would likely return to jail if she continued her principled refusal to testify. However, The New York Times writes that those who support Manning believe that the grand jury would not normally have ended on Thursday, and that it is because of the desire of prosecutors and the judge to bring the case to a conclusion.

Manning was an intelligence analyst with the United States Army. In 2013, she was sentenced 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 at the time 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. Former President Barack Obama pardoned her, after which she was released in May 2017.

During her incarceration, Manning attempted suicide more than once. CNN reports that Manning’s attorneys indicated that she attempted suicide again earlier this week, after which she was taken to hospital. Chelsea Manning decided to go through life as a woman in 2016 and was allowed to have sex surgery in 2016 after going on a hunger strike. Before that, her name was Bradley Manning.