Chelsea Manning Recovering After Trying to Take Her Own Life in Jail, Lawyers Say [View all]

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/chelsea-manning-recovering-after-trying-to-take-her-own-life-in-jail-lawyers-say

Betsy Swan
Political Reporter

Spencer Ackerman
Senior Nat’l Security Correspondent

Updated Mar. 11, 2020 7:17PM ET /
Published Mar. 11, 2020 7:15PM ET

Chelsea Manning tried to take her life on March 11, her legal team told The Daily Beast. “She was taken to a hospital and is currently recovering,” said the statement from her legal team, which is helmed by Moira Meltzer-Cohen. Manning is still set to appear in court for a hearing on Friday, where a federal judge will rule on a motion to terminate civil contempt sanctions against her.

“In spite of those sanctions—which have so far included over a year of so-called ‘coercive’ incarceration and nearly half a million dollars in threatened fines—she remains unwavering in her refusal to participate in a secret grand jury process that she sees as highly susceptible to abuse,” the statement said.

Manning has been jailed for contempt for months after refusing to cooperate with the federal prosecution of WikiLeaks.

Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst and Iraq veteran, admitted that she provided WikiLeaks in 2010 with hundreds of thousands of classified military documents detailing civilian deaths caused by U.S. and allied forces, as well as an extensive trove of diplomatic cables that plunged the U.S. into a geopolitical crisis. She said she grew disgusted with the Iraq and Afghanistan wars after prolonged exposure to their brutality.

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