Four members of the far-right group “Proud Boys”, who were involved in the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, were convicted on Thursday of “sedition”, according to a number of US media outlets, which is an extremely rare charge.
Their former leader, Enrique Tarrio, is among the four convicted.
France Press agency
They were five members of the group who will be prosecuted in a Washington court for having, along with a crowd of Republican President Donald Trump’s supporters, sowed chaos in the congressional seat, when elected officials certified the election of his Democratic rival. Joe Biden at the White House.
The jury failed to agree on a charge of “sedition” for the fifth defendant, but the five were also convicted of obstruction of Congress and destruction of public property, among other things.
Since the January 6, 2021 attack, more than 950 supporters of former Republican President Donald Trump have been arrested and charged with sowing chaos at the seat of American democracy.
France Press agency
After two more trials, which concluded in November and January, six members of another far-right militia, the Oath Keepers, were convicted of sedition, a leader who faces a 20-year prison sentence that includes plotting to use force in order to oppose the government.
It is difficult to prove, it is rarely used, and the previous conviction as such, prior to the November and January convictions, goes back nearly a quarter of a century.
The trial of the five members of the Proud Boys began in December in a court in the federal capital.
The former “national president” of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, who was arrested in Miami in March 2022, was not in Washington on January 6, but was suspected of leading the attack on the temple of American democracy by members of this neo-fascist organization.
Stuart Rhodes, founder of the far-right Oath Keepers militia, was among the members of this group who were found guilty in November of “sedition”.
France Press agency
According to the indictment filed by Enrique Tarrio, Tarrio spoke with Stuart Rhodes on January 5 in an underground parking lot in Washington and kept in contact with members of the Proud Boys who entered the Capitol.
Four of his aides were accused of directly participating in the attack.
In video of the event, one of them, Dominic Pezzola, can be seen grabbing a riot shield — stolen from the police — and smashing a window in the Capitol.
On a cold winter’s day on January 6, 2021, thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters gathered in Washington to protest the outcome of the 2020 election that saw the former real estate mogul lose.
France Press agency
A mob storms the seat of the US Congress, sending shockwaves around the world.
Nearly two years after the event, a House of Commons inquiry into the assault has recommended that former President Donald Trump be charged with criminal charges, including advocacy of insurrection and conspiracy against the US state.
The decision is non-binding, and yet it was historic, as it targets a former head of state. Donald Trump immediately denounced a maneuver aimed, according to him, at blocking his new candidacy for the presidency.
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