Former Wikileaks informant Chelsea Manning, who is in pre-trial detention, tried to commit suicide, US media reported on Thursday, citing her lawyers. "The incident involving inmate Chelsea Manning occurred at about 12:11 pm (7:11 pm Moscow time) today (Wednesday - IF) at the Alexandria detention center," the Alexandria, Virginia sheriff said in a statement. “It (incident - IF) has been handled accordingly by our professional staff, Miss Manning is safe,” the sheriff added.
According to lawyers, Manning is hospitalized. According to the agent of the ex-informant Andy Stepanian, hearings with the participation of Manning are scheduled for Friday, at which Judge Anthony Trenga will decide on a motion to remove her punishment for contempt of court, which was the result of her refusal in May 2019 to testify within the framework of investigating the WikiLeaks case.
Stepanian stressed that, despite the fact that Manning has been in prison for about a year, she still refuses to take part in the proceedings against the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, calling him "extremely vulnerable from the point of view of abuse." In February, a group of Manning's lawyers filed a request for her release, stating that her detention was illegal and senseless punishment, as they said Manning was not going to testify under any circumstances.
Manning was arrested in the spring of 2019 for refusing to testify to a grand jury. Then the judge ruled that Manning could be imprisoned for up to 18 months, and she is entitled to a daily fine of $ 500 for 30 days and $ 1000 after the expiration of 60 days. Bradley Manning was a military analyst in the US Army. He was arrested in 2010 for handing over secret government and military documents to WikiLeaks. Their publication made the US military unfavorable. As a result, Manning received a prison sentence of 35 years, but after seven years he was pardoned by former US President Barack Obama.