Chelsea Manning Ordered Back To Jail For Refusing To Testify Before Grand Jury

A federal judge has found former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in contempt of court and ordered her sent back to jail for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating Wikileaks. 

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga ordered Manning held in Alexandria Detention Center in Virginia, and said she would be fined $500 per day in 30 days if she still refuses to testify. That fine would increase to $1,000 per day after 60 days.

Manning has already spent two months in jail on a previous subpoena but was released last week when the term of that grand jury expired. She spoke to reporters Thursday afternoon outside the federal courthouse in Alexandria, Virginia, before the hearing.

"The truth is that no matter what happens today — whether I'm placed in confinement or not I'm not going to comply with this grand jury," Manning told reporters.

"Ultimately this is an attempt to place me back in confinement," she claimed. "I think that this ultimately the goal here is to relitigate the court martial from my perspective. They didn't like the outcome. I got out so this is a way of placing me back into confinement."

Manning argued she should not be sent to jail because she has already demonstrated that incarceration won't coerce her into testifying. She served seven years in a military prison for leaking a trove of documents to WikiLeaks before then-President Barack Obama commuted the remainder of her 35-year sentence.

Manning contends she has "strong evidence that unlawful electronic surveillance has taken place" on her. 

Aaron Navarro contributed to this report.