Chelsea Manning began getting fined on Saturday with an outrageous 500 dollar a day fine for refusing to testify against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The judge also ruled to double that fine after 60 days in prison for refusing to cooperate in a secret grand jury to indict Assange for espionage.
According to the Washington Times:
Manning, a 31-year-old activist and former Army analyst, was found in civil contempt on May 16 for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury empaneled in Alexandria, Virginia, where the Department of Justice has for years helmed the government’s criminal investigation into the WikiLeaks website and its founder, Julian Assange.
U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, ordered that “if Chelsea Manningdoes not purge herself of contempt within 30 days of this Order, she shall incur a conditional fine of $500 per day until such time as she purges herself of contempt.
In the government’s filing Friday, U.S. Attorney G. Zachary Terwilliger wrote that Manning’s testimony remains “essential” to an ongoing investigation into charges or targets not included in last month’s indictment charging Mr. Assange.
It appears they need Manning to testify to have a case against Assange or Wikileaks staff. Manning has shown her integrity by remaining in jail.
That is so outrageous! It seems like the court is saying, if we can’t be great, then let’s see how mean and nasty and petty we can be.
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First it was mental torture, now it’s financial torture
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