Florida jurors deliberate about activists accused of helping Russia sow political division, chaos

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Jurors in Florida will deliberate Wednesday in the trial of four activists accused of illegally acting as Russian agents to help the Kremlin sow political discord and interfere in U.S. elections.

All four are or were affiliated with the African People’s Socialist Party and Uhuru Movement, which has locations in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis. Among those charged is Omali Yeshitela, the 82-year-old chairman of the U.S.-based organization focused on Black empowerment and the effort to obtain reparations for slavery and what it considers the past genocide of Africans.

The government also charged Penny Hess, 78, and Jesse Nevel, 34, two leaders of branches of the group’s white allies. A fourth defendant, Augustus C. Romain Jr., 38, was kicked out of the Uhurus in 2018 and established his own group in Atlanta called The Black Hammer.

Attorneys finished their closing arguments late Tuesday, and jurors told the judge they wanted to go home for the night, the Tampa Bay Times reported. The trial had been scheduled to last a month but moved quickly, concluding after a week of testimony.

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“The defendants knowingly partnered with the Russian government,” prosecutor Menno Goedman told the jury in closing arguments. “Just look at their own words.”

But the defense argued that Yeshitela was only guessing and was not sure.

Chicago attorney Leonard Goodman, who represents Hess, argued that Aleksandr Ionov, who runs an organization known as the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, concealed from the Uhurus his relationship with Russian intelligence.

The government has “not proven that they knew Ionov was a Russian agent or a Russian government official,” Goodman said.

The defense attorney called the case “dangerous” for the First Amendment and asserted that the government was trying to silence the Uhurus for expressing their views.

Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel each face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and failing to register with the Justice Department as agents of a foreign government. Romain faces up to five years for a registration charge. They have all pleaded not guilty.

Three Russians, two of whom prosecutors say are Russian intelligence agents, are also charged in the case but have not been arrested.

Although there are some echoes of claims that Russia meddled in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, U.S. District Judge William Jung has said those issues are not part of this case.

Prosecutors have said the group’s members acted under Russian direction to stage protests in 2016 claiming Black people have been victims of genocide in the U.S. and took other actions for the following six years that would benefit Russia, including opposition to U.S. policy in the Ukraine war.

The defense attorneys, however, have said that despite their connections to the Russian organization, the actions taken by the African People’s Socialist Party and Uhuru Movement were aligned precisely with what they have advocated for more than 50 years. Yeshitela founded the organization in 1972 as a Black empowerment group opposed to vestiges of colonialism around the world.