Former United States Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning was released from prison on Thursday, 62 days after she was confined for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury, The Guardian reported.
She was let out of the William G Truesdale adult detention center in Alexandria, Virginia, after the grand jury expired. Manning may, however, face jail again as she has been issued with a new subpoena to appear before another grand jury on May 16. “Unfortunately, even prior to her release, Chelsea was served with another subpoena,” her lawyers said in a statement, according to BBC.
A judge in the United States held her in contempt on March 9 after she appeared in front of a grand jury but refused to answer questions related to the government’s investigation into WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.
Manning has consistently refused to answer questions pertaining to WikiLeaks. On May 7, she released a statement, asking the court to release her from prison and reiterated that she wouldn’t testify.
“After two months of confinement, and using every legal mechanism available so far, I can – without any hesitation – state that nothing will convince me to testify before this or any other grand jury for that matter,” Manning said. “This experience so far only proves my long held belief that grand juries are simply outdated tools used by the federal government to harass and disrupt political opponents and activists in fishing expeditions. The way I am being treated proves what a corrupt and abusive tool this truly is.”
The former United States soldier was reportedly asked to testify in connection with the information she leaked to the public in 2010 through WikiLeaks. Manning, a transgender woman then known as Bradley Manning, was an intelligence analyst for the United States military.
Three years later, Manning was convicted by court-martial of espionage and other offences for disclosing more than 700,000 documents, videos, diplomatic cables and battlefield accounts to WikiLeaks. The documents exposed cover-ups of possible war crimes and revealed internal US communications about other countries. In his final days in office, former President Barack Obama had commuted the final 28 years of Manning’s 35-year sentence. Manning was released from prison in May 2017.
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