Photo: Cliff Owen/AP

On Wednesday, whistleblower and political prisoner Chelsea Manning attempted suicide in a Virginia jail. Had Manning, who is currently recovering in a hospital, died, it would have been the state that killed her. Her current imprisonment, as I have previously written, is a brutal violation of Manning’s human rights and American law; it has now proven near-deadly in its violence.

Manning’s suicide attempt is grim fulfillment of the vow she made on entering prison last year: “I would rather starve to death,” she said, than testify.

Since May, Manning has been imprisoned for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury investigating WikiLeaks. Every day of her incarceration, she is charged $1,000; she now owes the government upwards of $250,000. The sole purpose of Manning’s detention has been to coerce her to testify. Under the arcane laws dictating federal grand jury procedure, she can only legally be held in jail on the grounds that imprisonment could be successful in its coercion. Manning’s suicide attempt is grim fulfillment of the vow she made on entering prison last year: “I would rather starve to death,” she said, than testify. According to her lawyers, Manning is still scheduled to attend a court hearing on Friday, when the judge overseeing the grand jury, Anthony Trenga, will rule on a motion to end her imprisonment and fines. The motion, filed by Manning’s legal team earlier this month, asserts that Manning has proven herself incoercible and so must, according to legal statute, be released from her incarceration. The judge has unassailable evidence that she will never speak and now the stakes of his Friday decision are in sharp relief: He does not have the choice to coerce her to testify — she will not. He can choose to free her immediately or continue to coerce her to possible death.