In a contradictory verdict, a jury in Tampa, Florida, decided Sept. 12 that Omali Yeshitela, the leader of the African People’s Socialist Party, and Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, both members of the support group UHURU, were not guilty of acting as agents of Moscow. But along with former UHURU member Augustus C. Romain, they were found guilty of conspiring to act as Moscow’s agents.
The thought-control conspiracy charges carry up to five years in prison. The jury took just 10 hours to reach its verdict. “This case has always been about free speech,” Hess’ attorney, Leonard Goodman, told the press after the verdict.
All but two of the 13 witnesses the government used in the trial were FBI agents. The Justice Department had unleashed an armed FBI raid on the African People’s Socialist Party’s offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis on July 29, 2022. They threw flash-bang grenades and handcuffed those they arrested at gunpoint, seizing computers and files.
The four defendants were charged under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, one of a number of attacks on constitutional freedoms adopted by the Franklin Roosevelt administration on the eve of World War II to target opponents of Washington’s moves to enter the imperialist war over markets and spheres of influence. It was used to task the FBI with going after the Socialist Workers Party, and to spy on, harass and disrupt others in subsequent witch hunt operations.
The foreign agent statute is one of the government’s arsenal of “national security” frame-up laws. It allows the Justice Department to target people whose political views are similar to those of governments Washington is in conflict with.
The verdict in the Tampa case comes as the Justice Department and Democratic political figures like Hillary Clinton are stepping up claims the Russian government is intervening in the 2024 presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump. Earlier this month Attorney General Merrick Garland indicted two Russia Today reporters on claims they failed to register as foreign agents while meddling in the 2024 election.
No date has been set for the sentencing of Hess, Nevel, Romain and Yeshitela. They say they intend to appeal the conviction.