Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who served years in prison for leaking one of the largest troves of classified documents in U.S. history, has been sent to jail for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating Wikileaks.
U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton ordered Manning to jail for contempt of court Friday after a brief hearing in which Manning confirmed she has no intention of testifying. She told the judge she “will accept whatever you bring upon me.”
Manning has said she objects to the secrecy of the grand jury process, and that she already revealed everything she knows at her court-martial.
The judge said she will remain jailed until she testifies or until the grand jury concludes its work.
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Manning anticipated being jailed. In a statement before Friday’s hearing, she said she invoked her First, Fourth and Sixth amendment protections when she appeared before the grand jury in Alexandria on Wednesday. She said she already answered every substantive question during her 2013 court-martial, and is prepared to face the consequences of refusing to answer again.
“In solidarity with many activists facing the odds, I will stand by my principles. I will exhaust every legal remedy available,” she said.
Manning served seven years of a 35-year military sentence for leaking a trove of military and diplomatic documents to the anti-secrecy website before then-President Barack Obama commuted her sentence.
Source: Chelsea Manning jailed for refusing to testify on Wikileaks
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