MIAMI — The sentencing hearing for the Uhuru 3, leaders and supporters of the African People’s Socialist Party framed up on charges of conspiring to act as agents of Moscow, was held Dec. 16 at the federal courthouse in Tampa. Over 100 supporters of freedom of speech packed the courtroom, overflowing into the hallway.
“No one’s going to prison; no one’s going to be fined,” U.S. District Court Judge William Jung ruled. He acknowledged the court had gotten over 1,600 “character letters” in support of the Uhuru 3 and noted how the courtrooms had been full of their supporters throughout the trial. The judge admitted, “If not for the requirement to register as a foreign agent, everything in the indictment would be legal and protected speech.”
He sentenced each of the three to three years probation and 300 hours of community service. They had faced a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine each.
The Uhuru 3 are APSP Chairman Omali Yeshitela, African People’s Solidarity Committee Chairwoman Penny Hess and Uhuru Solidarity Movement Chair Jesse Nevel. In September they were found not guilty of acting as unregistered Russian agents, but, in a contradictory ruling, found guilty of conspiring to act as Russian agents. They are appealing that conviction.
The charges are based on the notorious Foreign Agents Registration Act, which the capitalist rulers have used before to target constitutionally protected free speech and political activity. If you hold views that are similar to those of a foreign government, the U.S. government can unleash its FBI political police to spy on you, disrupt your political activity and then prosecute you. As part of the frameup, armed FBI agents broke into and raided APSP offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis, on July 29, 2022.
The pretext of serving a foreign power has been used by the government since the first imperialist world war to go after opponents of Washington’s wars, the Socialist Workers Party and others.
The judge’s ruling against jail time or fines is a victory in the two-and-a-half-year free speech battle.
“The only reason we didn’t get prison time is because we fought back against this government attack,” Yeshitela told the crowd.