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Whistleblower Chelsea Manning to Be Freed Next Week After 7 Years Behind Bars

© AP Photo / U.S. ArmyChelsea Manning
Chelsea Manning - Sputnik International
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US whistleblower Chelsea Manning will be released from US military prison next week after serving a seven-year sentence, Manning's legal team said in a statement on Tuesday.

Chelsea Manning to Lose Transgender Health Benefits After Release
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Chelsea (Bradley) Manning is set to be released from prison on May 17, according to the statementy.

"Next week, Chelsea Manning will be released from U.S. military prison after serving a seven-year sentence for disclosing classified information that raised public awareness regarding the impact of war on innocent civilians," the statement read.

The information was also confirmed by Manning, a transgender woman forced to serve sentence in an all-male prison, herself.

"For the first time, I can see a future for myself as Chelsea. I can imagine surviving and living as the person who I am and can finally be in the outside world. Freedom used to be something that I dreamed of but never allowed myself to fully imagine. 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," the whistleblower said in a statement.

Manning also expressed gratitude to all her supporters, lawyers and former US President Barack Obama, who commuted her sentence just before leaving the office.

Manning was arrested in May 2010 in Iraq, while serving in the US army. Then-Bradley Manning admitted disclosing classified information to WikiLeaks, concerning deaths among civilians caused by US airstrikes, Guantanamo prisoners and about 250,000 US diplomatic letters. In August 2013, the whistleblower was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

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