iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — President Obama granted a commutation to Chelsea Manning, a transgender soldier who was convicted of Espionage Act violations and other charges for leaking hundreds of thousands of classified documents to Wikileaks.
Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison in 2013 and she will now be released in May, according to her lawyer. The documents that were leaked, about the U.S. military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, sparked a firestorm.
She was one of 209 individuals granted commutations and 64 individuals who were given pardons by Obama Tuesday.
Chase Strangio, Manning’s attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, confirms the commutation to ABC News.
“I’m relieved and thankful that the president is doing the right thing and commuting Chelsea Manning’s sentence,” Strangio said in a statement released by the ACLU. “Since she was first taken into custody, Chelsea has been subjected to long stretches of solitary confinement — including for attempting suicide — and has been denied access to medically necessary health care. This move could quite literally save Chelsea’s life, and we are all better off knowing that Chelsea Manning will walk out of prison a free woman, dedicated to making the world a better place and fighting for justice for so many.”
Manning’s commutation comes on one of Obama’s final days in office. He has issued a total of 1,385 commutations and 212 pardons.
Manning is being held at Fort Leavenworth and reportedly tried to commit suicide twice in the last year.
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