Chelsea Manning was sent to jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks, objecting to the secrecy of the grand jury process, and saying she already revealed everything she knows during her court martial.
US district judge Claude Hilton held Manning in contempt of court and ordered her jailed Friday after a hearing in Virginia, where she confirmed her intention not to testify. She told the judge she “will accept whatever you bring upon me.”
Chelsea will be jailed as long as she refuses to testify or for as long as the grand jury is ongoing.
When she was in US Army intelligence, Manning disclosed documents that exposed war crimes, diplomatic misconduct, among other instances of wrongdoing and questionable conduct by the US government.
She was arrested, court-martialed, and convicted of violating the Espionage Act. She received a 35-year sentence, but was released after six years because of a grassroots campaign that successfully pressured the government to commute her sentence.
Manning said, “In solidarity with many activists facing the odds, I will stand by my principles. I will exhaust every legal remedy available. My legal team continues to challenge the secrecy of these proceedings, and I am prepared to face the consequences of my refusal,”
In a statement Manning released on Twitter, she said she invoked her first, fourth and sixth amendment protections before the grand jury Wednesday. She said she has already answered every meaningful question during her court-martial.
Last year, prosecutors disclosed that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing secret criminal charges in the district.
Photo: “Free Radical: Chelsea Manning with Vogue’s Sally Singer” by Fredrik Lundhag is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
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