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Chelsea Manning Jailed Again After Refusing to Testify

The whistleblower said she would would rather starve to death than testify before the grand jury about WikiLeaks again.

Chelsea Manning was ordered back to jail Thursday night in Virginia after refusing to testify in front of a second grand jury looking into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Manning told federal District Judge Anthony Trenga that she would “rather starve to death” than give testimony. She has already served 62 days in jail, of which 28 were in solitary confinement, for refusing to testify in front of a preliminary grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks. She now faces a further 18 months in custody. If, after 30 days, she continues to refuse to cooperate with this grand jury, she will be fined $500 a day. After 60 days, she will be fined $1,000 for every day she refuses to cooperate. “I will never agree to testify before this or any other grand jury,” she said. “The government knows I cannot be coerced.” Manning was found guilty of espionage for leaking military secrets to Assange. Her sentence was commuted in 2017 by President Obama.