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U.S. NEWS Friday 13 March 2020

Judge orders Chelsea Manning released from jail

By MATTHEW BARAKAT into testifying and therefore erce the witness into testify-
Associated Press should be released. ing.
FALLS CHURCH, Va. (AP) — On Wednesday, her law- If the jail time has no co-
A federal judge on Thurs- yers said she attempted ercive effect and is purely
day ordered the release suicide while at the jail. punitive, the recalcitrant
of former Army intelligence Manning was held since witness is supposed to be
analyst Chelsea Manning, May for refusing to testify released.
who has been incarcerat- before a grand jury investi- Manning has said she be-
ed since May for refusing to gating Wikileaks. lieves grand juries in gen-
testify to a grand jury. She spent an additional eral are an abuse of power
U.S. District Judge Anthony two months in jail earlier in and that she would rather
Trenga ordered Manning’s 2019 for refusing to testify to starve to death than testify.
release from jail after pros- a separate grand jury. Judge Trenga, in sending
ecutors reported that the She could have faced Manning to jail, said there
grand jury that subpoe- nearly six more months of was no dishonor in testify-
naed her has disbanded. jail time if the grand jury ing to grand juries, which
The judge left in place more had continued its work. The are referenced specifically
than $256,000 in fines he im- civil contempt citation was in the U.S. Constitution, and
posed for her refusal to tes- designed to coerce her that he hoped time in jail
tify to the grand jury, which testimony. would allow Manning to re-
is investigating WikiLeaks. Federal prosecutors had flect on that.
The fines had been accu- maintained that Manning Manning had previously
mulating at a rate of $1,000 can easily effect her own spent seven years in a mili-
a day. release by complying with tary prison for delivering a In this Nov. 9, 2017, file photo, Chelsea Manning attends the
A hearing in the case that the grand jury subpoena. trove of classified informa- 22nd Annual OUT100 Celebration Gala at the Altman Building
had been scheduled for They said she had the same tion to WikiLeaks founder in New York.
Friday has now been can- duty to provide testimony Julian Assange, who is un- Associated Press
celed. that all citizens face. der indictment at the Al-
Manning had argued that Under federal law, a recal- exandria courthouse and Barack Obama. she could again be jailed
she had shown through her citrant witness can only be is fighting extradition to It is possible that prosecu- for refusing to testify. But
prolonged stay at the Alex- jailed for civil contempt if the U.S.. Manning’s 35-year tors could convene an- there is no clear indication
andria jail that she proved there is a reasonable belief sentence was then com- other grand jury and again from prosecutors that they
she could not be coerced that incarceration will co- muted by then-President subpoena Manning and would do so.q