Tampa, Florida — The trial began in Florida on Tuesday for four activists who are accused of illegally working as Russian agents to help the Kremlin sow political divisions and interfere in US elections.
All four are or were associated with the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement, which has offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis. Those charged include Omali Yeshitela, 82, president of the U.S.-based organization, which focuses on black empowerment and efforts to gain reparations for slavery and the past genocide of Africans.
https://apspuhuru.org
In opening statements, Yeshitela’s attorney, Ade Griffin, said the group shares many of the goals of a Russian organization called the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, but is not operating under the control of that country’s government.
“Ladies and gentlemen, that’s simply not true,” Griffin told the racially mixed jury. “This is a case of censorship.”
Yeshitela and two others are charged with conspiring to defraud the US and failing to register with the Justice Department as agents of a foreign government. The fourth defendant, who later founded a separate group called Black Hammer in Atlanta, is charged only with conspiracy. All of them have pleaded not guilty.
Three Russian citizens have also been charged in the case, two of whom prosecutors say are Russian intelligence agents, but they have not been arrested.
Although there are some claims that Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election, US District Judge William Jung said these issues are not part of the case.
“This trial will not raise the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election,” Jung said in an order issued Monday.
Justice Department lawyer Menno Goedman said in his opening statement that group members staged protests in 2016 at Russia’s direction claiming black people were victims of genocide in the U.S. and took other actions over the next six years that benefited Russia, including opposing U.S. policy. ukraine war,
“This is about dividing Americans, dividing communities, pitting neighbors against neighbors,” Goedeman told jurors. “The defendants acted at the direction of the Russian government to create division right here in America.”
According to the criminal indictment, this included supporting a St. Petersburg City Council candidate in 2019, whom the Russians claimed were “monitoring.” The candidate lost that race and was not charged in the case.
A large part of the alleged cooperation was linked to support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, Yeshitela held a news conference in which he said that “the African People’s Socialist Party calls for unity with Russia in its defensive war in Ukraine against world colonial powers.” He also called for the independence of the Russian-occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
However, defence lawyers said that despite their ties to the Russian organisation, the actions taken by the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement were in line with what they have been advocating for more than 50 years. Yeshitela founded the organisation in 1972 as a black empowerment group that opposed remnants of colonialism around the world.
“He had some very common beliefs,” said Leonard Goodman, a lawyer representing defendant Penny Hayes. “That’s what makes him dangerous.”
Yeshitela, Hayes and fellow defendant Jesse Newell face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy and foreign agent registration charges. A fourth defendant, Augustus Romain, faces a maximum sentence of five years if convicted of the registration count.
The trial is expected to last four weeks.