Photo: Chelsea Manning Instagram
Chelsea Manning has been released from a Virginia jail after spending 62 days behind bars for her refusal to testify about her role in the WikiLeaks scandal, her legal team announced on Friday.
However, she may not be free for long.
“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.
Manning has remained steadfast in her refusal to answer any questions regarding her ties to WikiLeaks, and was taken into custody on March 8 for contempt. Her lawyers contend the jail time is merely a judicial tactic to force her into cooperating with authorities.
She was deployed in Iraq back in 2009 as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, and had access to a classified database called CIDNE, which includes documents ranging from detainee profiles to military reports.
The leaker-turned-activist says her refusal to testify before a grand jury is an act of protest against the “entrapment and persecution (of) activists for protected political speech.”
Meanwhile, Assange was arrested last month after seeking asylum for the past seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. The Wikileaks founder declined voluntary extradition to the U.S. in a recent court appearance in the U.K.
Manning’s legal team says she will be releasing a statement soon regarding her release.
source: people.com
