Chelsea Manning released from jail after 62 days behind bars for refusing to testify in WikiLeaks case

WHISTLEBLOWER Chelsea Manning has been released from jail after spending 62 days behind bars for refusing to testify about her ties to WikiLeaks.

The former intelligence analyst and US Army soldier was freed from a Virginia prison on Thursday – but she could be back there in less than a week.

Manning was jailed for contempt on March 8 after refusing to answer questions about WikiLeaks before a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Virginia.

Her release came after the grand jury’s term expired on Thursday, but her legal team has already been served another subpoena.

It demands she appear before a different grant jury on May 17.

Manning has vowed not to answer any questions and, therefore, could be returned to custody as early as next week.

“Chelsea will continue to refuse to answer questions, and will use every available legal defense to prove to District Judge Trenga that she has just cause for her refusal to give testimony,” her lawyers said.

LEAKED 725,000 CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

During her 2013 court martial, Manning confessed to leaking more than 725,000 classified documents to WikiLeaks following her deployment as a US Army intelligence analyst to Iraq in 2009.

Manning spent one semester at university and worked numerous low-paid jobs before enlisting in the US Army in 2007.

In 2009, Manning was deployed to a base near Baghdad, where she worked as an intelligence analyst.

Manning first made contact with WikiLeaks in January 2010 – around the same time she posted on Facebook that she felt "so alone".

The whistleblower leaked more than 700,000 classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, including 251,287 diplomatic cables from foreign embassies and 482,232 Army reports.

SECRET REPORTS

The leak included a July 2007 video clip of a US helicopter crew killing 12 people including Saeed Chmagh and Namir Nour-Eldeen, who were Iraqi journalists with the Reuters news agency.

After the lead helicopter opens fire, one of the crew is heard to say: "Hahaha. I hit 'em."

One of the cables revealed then UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband helped the US avoid a ban on cluster bombs.

Another report exposed how American troops executed 10 Iraqi civilians including an infant and 70-year-old woman before calling an air strike to destroy the evidence.

Manning eventually confided in Adrian Lamo, an online acquaintance, about leaking the documents.

2013 TRIAL

Within weeks of Lamo informing United States Army Counterintelligence, Manning was arrested, thrown into a military prison and held behind bars for three years until her trial in 2013.

Manning was charged with 22 offences, of which she pleaded guilty to 10.

In 2013, her court-martial began and she was found guilty on 20 counts, including violations of the Espionage Act, but was acquitted of aiding the enemy – a charge which can result in the death penalty.

A military judge sentenced her to 35 years in prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

But in  January 2017, President Obama announced Manning would have her sentence commuted.

She was released from prison on May 17 that same year.

Manning underwent gender reassignment surgery in October 2018.

The news of Manning’s release comes as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange serves his 50-week sentence in a London jail for skipping bail in 2012.

Swedish prosecutors will announce next week whether they will reopen an investigation into a rape allegation against Assange.

Prosecutors dropped the rape investigation in 2017 because they were unable to proceed while the WikiLeaks founder remained living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

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