Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst who was jailed for refusing to testify before a grand jury that is investigating WikiLeaks, has been hospitalized after she attempted suicide on Wednesday, her lawyers say. The lawyers did not say how Manning, 32, tried to kill herself at a detention center in Alexandria, Va., where she has been held since May, the New York Times reports. Manning is scheduled to appear on Friday at a hearing in a Virginia federal court.
Judge Anthony Trenga is expected to rule on whether to end the civil contempt sanctions imposed on Manning after she refused to testify before a grand jury investigating the publication of thousands of American military and diplomatic files that she had provided to WikiLeaks in 2010. Manning was also detained for two months last year for refusing to testify, then briefly released when that grand jury’s term ended. Prosecutors subpoenaed her again for testimony before a new grand jury, and she again refused to testify and was locked up again. “In spite of those sanctions — which have so far included over a year of so-called ‘coercive’ incarceration and nearly half a million dollars in threatened fines — she remains unwavering in her refusal to participate in a secret grand jury process that she sees as highly susceptible to abuse,” her lawyers said. “Ms. Manning has previously indicated that she will not betray her principles, even at risk of grave harm to herself,” the statement said.