Whistleblower Chelsea Manning Released From Virginia Detention Center

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been released from the Virginia jail where she has been kept for the last two months for her refusal to testify before a grand jury regarding WikiLeaks and its founder, Julian Assange. However, Manning must now appear before a new grand jury on May 16.

After 62 days in jail and two petitions for release citing improper procedure by the judge as well as her adamant refusal to testify, Manning has been released.

However, she has been served with another subpoena to appear before another grand jury in one week. "It is therefore conceivable that she will once again be held in contempt of court, and be returned to the custody of the Alexandria Detention Center, possibly as soon as next Thursday, May 16," Manning's lawyers said.

Chelsea Manning released. grand jury expired pic.twitter.com/tpoT1W46xe

— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) May 10, 2019

​"Chelsea will continue to refuse to answer questions, and will use every available legal defense to prove to District Judge [Anthony] Trenga that she has just cause for her refusal to give testimony," Manning's lawyers said in a statement. She was previously jailed for refusing to answer questions before a grand jury on March 8, claiming she had already testified about the topic at length during her 2013 trial, and that she would refuse further testimony because she found it immoral.

Manning was previously detained for seven years, from 2010 until 2017, for having stolen secret US documents proving the US military committed — and covered up — war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. She published them via WikiLeaks, the document leaking website founded by Julian Assange, about whom the grand jury presently seeks Manning's testimony.