Judge Denies Motion to Reconsider Chelsea Manning’s Jail Time

A judge has turned down a request made by Chelsea Manning's lawyers to release the whistleblower-turned-activist from the jail where she's been imprisoned since May for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigation into WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Gizmodoreports that a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia denied a motion by Manning's legal team on Monday to ask that the court reconsider the terms of her incarceration, which include daily fines of $1,000.

"I am disappointed but not at all surprised," Manning said in a statement to The Sparrow Project. "The government and the judge must know by now that this doesn't change my position one bit."

Manning's jail time is legal as long as its purpose is to coerce her into testifying before a grand jury about her 2010 leak of hundreds of thousands of sensitive government documents to WikiLeaks. But given her clearly stated moral objections to the grand jury process, Manning's lawyers have argued that her imprisonment and accompanying fines serve no purpose other than to punish her.

Anthony Trenga, the U.S. district court judge who denied the motion, disagreed, arguing that "Ms. Manning has the ability to comply with the court's financial sanctions or will have the ability after her release from confinement." Because of his decision, she faces up to another year in jail and nearly $500,000 in fines.

"Chelsea will remain confined for another year and will face ongoing financial hardship," her lawyers said following the denial, per Gizmodo. "The sanctions imposed will never coerce her compliance and therefore are entirely punitive."

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