Federal Judge Orders the Release of Chelsea Manning

Chelsea Manning, the former trans army intelligence officer who has been incarcerated since May for refusing to testify before a grand jury, has been been ordered to be released by a federal judge.

Manning attempted suicide on Wednesday according to her attorneys.

According to the Associated Press: Manning was held since May for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating Wikileaks. She spent an additional two months in jail earlier in 2019 for refusing to testify to a separate grand jury. She could have faced nearly six more months of jail time if the grand jury had continued its work. The civil contempt citation was designed to coerce her testimony.

Manning had previously spent seven years in a military prison for delivering a trove of classified information to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is under indictment at the Alexandria courthouse and is fighting extradition to the U.S.. Manning’s 35-year sentence was then commuted by then-President Barack Obama.