IPFS

Chelsea Manning Still Victimized by US Police State Viciousness

Written by Subject: United States

Chelsea Manning Still Victimized by US Police State Viciousness

by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)

Manning has been unconstitutionally imprisoned for invoking her right to remain silent.

She justifiably refuses to give grand jury testimony to be twisted and used by Trump regime hardliners against Julian Assange.

She invoked her First, Fourth, and Sixth Amendment rights to refuse to answer questions, citing other statutory rights as well.

Her cruel and unusual punishment violates her Eight Amendment rights.

Instead of protecting the public from oppressive rule, the corrupted grand jury system facilitates it — what the Supreme Court should have rule unconstitutional long ago.

It's used as a dagger against fundamental constitutional rights because of manipulative practices of prosecutors, doing whatever it takes to get convictions, no matter how underhanded.

Last November, UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer called for Manning's immediate release in a letter to the Trump regime.

Calling her imprisonment unjustifiable, he said disproportionate fines against her should be cancelled, the amount exceeding $225,000, the figure increasing by $1,000 daily.

Ruled in contempt of court for invoking her right to remain silent, she was imprisoned last March, released briefly, then re-imprisoned in May.

As long as the current grand jury to which she was called to testify before remains in session, or if a new one for the same purpose is convened when the term of the present one expires, Manning can be involuntarily held as long as Trump regime hardliners wish to punish her.

Cruel and unusual punishment to which she's subjected amounts to torture under international and US constitutional law.

Melzer: "(T)he practice of coercive detention (is) incompatible with the international human rights obligations of the United States under…the Convention Against Torture."

Manning's mistreatment also breaches the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to which the US is a signatory.

Trump regime mistreatment of Manning is how all police states operate — breaching the rule of law extrajudicially the way the US always operates.

Manning earlier said her "longstanding objection to the immoral practice of throwing people in jail without charge or trial, for the sole purpose of forcing them to testify before a secret, government-run investigative panel, remains strong," adding:

"Nearly every other legal system in the world condemns coercive confinement, and long ago replaced secret grand juries with public hearings." 

"I am thrilled to see the practice of coercive confinement called out for what it is: incompatible with international human rights standards." 

"Regardless, even knowing I am very likely to stay in jail for an even longer time, I'm never backing down." 

Last month, her attorney Moira Meltzer-Cohen said the following:

"Special Rapporteur Melzer has issued a legally rigorous condemnation of the practice of coercive confinement, and of Ms. Manning's confinement in particular." 

"While the United States has so far failed to live up to its human rights obligations, I remain hopeful that the government will reconsider its policies in light of the UN's admonition."

"In any case, there can be no further doubt that Ms. Manning has the courage of her convictions, and will never agree to testify before a grand jury, even at great personal cost." 

"As SR Melzer notes, since her confinement is not having the intended coercive effect, she must be released." 

His letter was delivered to the Trump regime over three months ago. 

Manning remains imprisoned. So does Assange in London, Britain holding him in cahoots with Trump regime hardliners, wanting him extradited to the US for the "crime" of truth-telling journalism.

Citing Huxley's Brave New World and Orwell's Big Brother society, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters said today we've "got a lot of both" — polar opposite Pangloss' "best of all possible worlds" in Voltaire's Candide.

VISIT MY WEBSITE: stephenlendman.org (Home - Stephen Lendman). Contact at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

My newest book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

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