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US Set to Release Chelsea Manning

by VOA News

   Chelsea Manning, the U.S. Army soldier who gave hundreds of thousands
   of classified military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks in 2010,
   is due to be freed from prison Wednesday after serving seven years of a
   35-year sentence.

   Her lawyers and the Army have not made public the exact timing of the
   release from a federal facility in the state of Kansas due to security
   concerns. But Manning's lawyers have said she plans to go to Maryland
   once free.

   The leaks included battlefield reports from the wars in Iraq and
   Afghanistan, as well as State Department cables, and rocketed WikiLeaks
   to international prominence. Critics said the disclosures publicized
   some of the nation's most sensitive secrets and put people mentioned in
   the documents, such as those who aided U.S. troops overseas, in danger.

   Manning said she acted "out of concern for my country," innocent
   civilians who died in the wars and in support of "transparency and
   public accountability."

   She has taken full responsibility for the leak, but objected to the
   length of the sentence, which was longer than any given for the
   disclosure of such information.

   Former U.S. President Barack Obama commuted Manning's sentence in
   January, setting Wednesday as her release date. That decision angered
   Obama's successor, President Donald Trump, who called Manning an
   "ungrateful traitor."

   Her conviction in a military court on 20 counts, including violations
   of the Espionage Act, theft and computer fraud, remains in place and
   Manning is appealing the verdict.

   She was known as Bradley Manning at the time of the leaks and came out
   as transgender after being sentenced to prison.

   "Now, freedom is something that I will again experience with friends
   and loved ones after nearly seven years of bars and cement, of periods
   of solitary confinement, and of my health care and autonomy restricted,
   including through routinely forced haircuts," Manning said in a
   statement last week. "I am forever grateful to the people who kept me
   alive, President Obama, my legal team and countless supporters."

   Manning's lawyers have said she was subjected to violence while in
   prison, and that the military mistreated her by forcing her to serve
   her time in an all-male facility and restricting access to physical and
   mental health care.

   An online fundraising effort set up to help Manning pay for living
   expenses after her release had brought in nearly $150,000 in donations
   as of Wednesday.