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A jury found African-American activists Omali Yeshitela, 82, Penny Hess, 78, Jesse Nevel, 34, and Augustus K. Romain Jr., 38, guilty of conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government, namely, the Russian Federation, the US Department of Justice reports on its official website.
From the information provided by the department, it follows that Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel are leaders of the African People's Socialist Party (ANSP), Augustus Romain is a former member of the ANSP and the head of the Black Hammer group he created.
According to the materials handed over to the jury by the prosecution, from at least May 2015 to July 2022, Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel allegedly carried out activities in the interests of the Russian authorities, represented by the founder and chairman of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AMMR) Alexander Ionov, in the United States.
At the same time, according to the prosecution, Ionov and his organization received state funding and acted under the control of the FSB.
The activists who appeared before the jury were accused of conducting, allegedly at the behest of Moscow, a number of events in the period from May 2015 to July 2022, including work on planning Yeshitela's trip to Russia in order, according to the US Prosecutor's Office, to hold a meeting with representatives of the Russian authorities, the development and publication of a petition to the UN accusing the United States of genocide of Africans, a campaign to familiarize the U.S. population with the contents of this document.
The jury also agreed with the position of the prosecution, which claimed that Yeshitela, Hess, Nevel and Romain, knowing that Ionov sought from them actions to "undermine" the United States from within, accepted money from the latter, in particular, received 12 thousand dollars for their own events.
In 2017 and 2019, it was alleged during the hearings, Ionov tried to organize "interference" in the mayoral elections in St. Petersburg, Florida, in favor of Nevel, who was one of the candidates for this post, while noting that in 2020, in one of the FSB messages to Ionov, the then presidential elections were characterized as "the main topic of the year." However, the prosecution admitted that it had no information about any practical results of the "interference" imputed to Ionov.
The U.S. Attorney's Office attached particular importance to the activities of African-American activists after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. Thus, it is alleged that the video message presented by Yeshitela in 2020 in support of the residents of Donbass was distributed at the initiative of Ionov. Later, in 2022, Ionov, again "at the behest of the FSB" and as part of the "information war", instructed Yeşitel and Romen to hold several demonstrations to protest against the censorship of Russian media on social media, as well as to organize Victory Day celebrations and several "pro-Russian" events.
For these acts, the defendants face a sentence of five years in prison, the US Department of Justice noted.
Recall that, according to media reports, Yeshitela began his activities as an activist back in the 1960s, advocating for the rights of African Americans in the United States, and headed the ANSP, acting in the interests of Africans, in 1972.
From the information provided by the department, it follows that Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel are leaders of the African People's Socialist Party (ANSP), Augustus Romain is a former member of the ANSP and the head of the Black Hammer group he created.
According to the materials handed over to the jury by the prosecution, from at least May 2015 to July 2022, Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel allegedly carried out activities in the interests of the Russian authorities, represented by the founder and chairman of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia (AMMR) Alexander Ionov, in the United States.
At the same time, according to the prosecution, Ionov and his organization received state funding and acted under the control of the FSB.
The activists who appeared before the jury were accused of conducting, allegedly at the behest of Moscow, a number of events in the period from May 2015 to July 2022, including work on planning Yeshitela's trip to Russia in order, according to the US Prosecutor's Office, to hold a meeting with representatives of the Russian authorities, the development and publication of a petition to the UN accusing the United States of genocide of Africans, a campaign to familiarize the U.S. population with the contents of this document.
The jury also agreed with the position of the prosecution, which claimed that Yeshitela, Hess, Nevel and Romain, knowing that Ionov sought from them actions to "undermine" the United States from within, accepted money from the latter, in particular, received 12 thousand dollars for their own events.
In 2017 and 2019, it was alleged during the hearings, Ionov tried to organize "interference" in the mayoral elections in St. Petersburg, Florida, in favor of Nevel, who was one of the candidates for this post, while noting that in 2020, in one of the FSB messages to Ionov, the then presidential elections were characterized as "the main topic of the year." However, the prosecution admitted that it had no information about any practical results of the "interference" imputed to Ionov.
The U.S. Attorney's Office attached particular importance to the activities of African-American activists after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. Thus, it is alleged that the video message presented by Yeshitela in 2020 in support of the residents of Donbass was distributed at the initiative of Ionov. Later, in 2022, Ionov, again "at the behest of the FSB" and as part of the "information war", instructed Yeşitel and Romen to hold several demonstrations to protest against the censorship of Russian media on social media, as well as to organize Victory Day celebrations and several "pro-Russian" events.
For these acts, the defendants face a sentence of five years in prison, the US Department of Justice noted.
Recall that, according to media reports, Yeshitela began his activities as an activist back in the 1960s, advocating for the rights of African Americans in the United States, and headed the ANSP, acting in the interests of Africans, in 1972.
