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Chelsea Manning sent to jail for refusing to testify in WikiLeaks case
Former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning will be held in jail until she testifies before a grand jury or that grand jury is no longer operating, a federal judge in Alexandria ruled Friday.
Most of the hearing at which prosecutors argued for Manning to be held in contempt was sealed, but the court was open to the public for Judge Claude M. Hilton's ruling. "I've found you in contempt," Hilton said. He ordered her to custody immediately, "either until you purge yourself or the end of the life of the grand jury."
Manning was called to testify in an investigation into WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy website she shared classified documents with back in 2010. Manning served seven years of a 35 year prison sentence for her leak before receiving a commutation from President Barack Obama.
Outside court before the hearing, Manning said she was prepared to go to jail. "These secret proceedings tend to favor the government," she said. "I'm always willing to explain things publicly."
Older article. Also at BBC, The Guardian, and Associated Press.
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Saturday March 09 2019, @03:51PM
Maybe we need a few more details. This is a Grand Jury, not a trial, right? I believe that it is common for grand juries to be closed, sealed, or otherwise secretive. The rules of a grand jury are quite different from the rules for juries in trials. The burden of proof is quite different, as well. While I agree that secret hearings, secret courts, and a myriad of other secrets are anti-democracy, grand juries, maybe not so much. All that happens in a grand jury is, the prosecutor convinces the jurists that something illegal may have happened, and that an investigation and a prosecution should take place.
I will also note that Manning is to be jailed for as long as the grand jury remains in existence, OR until he agrees to testify. That will *almost* certainly be for less than a year, and probably less than six months, possibly even less than a month. I don't think that grand juries are generally long lived.
And, finally, contempt of court is a more-or-less accepted tool that courts can use to compel a witness or defendant to do something. In this case, the court is attempting to compel Manning to testify.
I'm not sure where I stand on the secretiveness of this particular hearing, nor of the secretiveness of grand juries in general.
As a rule, I agree with you about secret hearings and secred courts. Maybe this grand jury is being abusive, maybe not. Maybe grand juries in general are abusive with their powers and authorities, maybe not. But, what I'm seeing is a common-place kind of thing here. It happens in every county in this nation, pretty routinely.