Former US Army intelligence analyst and anti-secrecy activist Chelsea Manning was found in contempt of court again by a federal judge on Thursday. At the hearing in Virginia’s Alexandria Judge Anthony Trenga ordered that she be sent back to jail, just after a week from her release for refusing to testify before another grand jury.
Manning, who already spent 62 days in federal custody for refusing to testify before another grand jury investigating on her WikiLeaks disclosures in March, will return to Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia. The activist also faces a fine of $500 per day in 30 days, if she still refuses to testify, rising to $1,000 after 60 days.
Chelsea Manning’s attorney Moira Meltzer-Cohen blamed the Trump’s administration for being hostile to the press, claiming that her client’s prosecution “undermine the system of American government according to the American government’s own laws”.
Speaking for the prosecution, US Attorney G Zachary Terwilliger criticised Manning’s failure to co-operate with the justice system.
“As someone who has received an incredible gift of a commutation with literally given 28 years of her life back, she now refuses to simply answer questions as a part of our constitutional criminal justice process,” he told reporters outside court.