A federal judge ordered Chelsea Manning back to jail Thursday after she again refused to cooperate with a grand jury investigating a release of documents by WikiLeaks.
U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Trenga had Manning remanded and sentenced her to pay a fine of $500 per day if she doesn’t comply in 30 days and $1,000 after 60 days pass.
U.S. marshals took Manning into custody for a term that could last as long as 18 months.
“I would rather starve to death than change my position in this regard,” Manning told the court. “Confinement serves no purpose.”
After seeing Manning led away to jail, defense attorney Moira Meltzer-Cohen said her client was standing up for principles.
“Whatever you think of her, Chelsea Manning is a principled person,” Cohen said. “She knows what it is to suffer.”
But prosecutors said Manning is not exempt from fulfilling her civic duty and noted that she was offered immunity so she could speak freely.
Incarceration, they said, is the only tool they have that could coerce Manning to testify.
