After Two Months, Chelsea Manning Has Been Released From Jail

After more than two months in jail, former U.S. Army soldier and privacy activist Chelsea Manning has been released. But her freedom might not last for long.

According to Gizmodo, Manning was released after the Eastern District of Virginia grand jury empaneled for an investigation into Wikileaks saw its term expire on Thursday.

Back on March 8, Manning was incarcerated on a contempt charge after refusing to testify before the grand jury or answer any questions about her role, or that of Julian Assange’s, in the 2010 leak of classified U.S. war logs from Iraq. However, her lawyers have already been served with another subpoena demanding that Manning appear before a new grand jury next week.

In a statement, Manning’s lawyers reiterated their client’s steadfast position that she will not cooperate: “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.” If Manning again holds out, she could be held in contempt a second time and remanded back to jail.

In 2013, Manning, still in the U.S. Army, was court-martialed for leaking classified information to Wikileaks. In all, she served nearly seven years in military prison before being granted clemency and having her 35-year sentence commuted by President Barack Obama in early 2017.

Government pressure to get Manning to comply has ramped up now that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is in police custody in the U.K. Federal prosecutors are looking to extradite him to the U.S. where he has been charged with hacking charges related to the 2010 publication of Manning’s war logs leak.

Photo: former American soldier and whistleblower Chelsea Manning, October 1, 2018 in London, England.

[Featured photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images]