Judge orders Chelsea Manning released from prison

Judge orders Chelsea Manning released from prison

On Thursday (March 12) WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning was released from prison, where she had been held since May for refusing to testify in an ongoing U.S. investigation into WikiLeaks.

Gloria Tso reports.

WikiLeaks source Chelsea Manning was released from prison on Thursday (March 12).

The former U.S. Army soldier has been held since May for refusing to testify in an ongoing U.S. investigation of WikiLeaks.

U.S. District Court Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria, Virginia ordered Manning to be freed since the grand jury hearing of the case had concluded.

A detention hearing originally scheduled for Manning on Friday (March 13) has been cancelled.

On Wednesday (March 11), a spokesman from her defense team said Manning attempted to take her own life and was then brought to the hospital, where she was recovering.

They added that in spite of the circumstances, Manning remained, quote, "unwavering in her refusal to participate in a secret grand jury process that she sees as highly susceptible to abuse." However - the judge has rejected Manning's request to cancel fines he imposed for her refusal to testify.

Manning is still on the hook for more than $250,000.

Prior to this most recent incarceration, Manning separately spent seven years in a military prison.

That was for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military messages and cables to WikiLeaks.

WikiLeaks, an internet base for leakers of classified or sensitive information, was founded by Julian Assange in 2006.

Assange is currently being held in a London prison as British courts consider a request from U.S. prosecutors to have him extradited to the United States.

He is wanted on charges of conspiring with Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer system containing classified materials.