U.S. District Judge William Jung gave the three probation, finding no need to punish in a case rooted in speech.
By
- Dan SullivanTimes staff
Published Yesterday|Updated Yesterday (tampabay.com)
TAMPA — Members of the St. Petersburg-based Uhuru Movement will not serve prison time for their role in an international conspiracy to spread Russian propaganda and sow political discord in the U.S., a federal judge declared Monday.
U.S. District Judge William Jung sentenced Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel to three years of probation,punctuating a case that raised complicated questions of foreign relations, espionage and free speech. They also got 300 hours of community service.
Scores of their supporters packed the courtroom and gave sustained applause after the judge left the bench. The jubilance continued for several minutes in the hallway outside amid smiles, hugs, pumped fists and chants of “Not one day!”
“If you listen to what the judge had to say, he said what our lawyers have been saying all along,” said Yeshitela, the group’s longtime leader, in a speech on the courthouse steps. “Our lawyers have said that we shouldn’t be here. Our lawyers have said that even if this thing goes to trial, it’s an assault, a major assault on the First Amendment.”
Prosecutors had asked for prison time for members of the African activist group, noting the seriousness of the national security threat at issue in the case. But the judge reiterated comments he made last week at the sentencing of a fourth defendant in the case, Augustus C. Romain Jr., who got five years’ probation, saying he felt no need to punish the group for conduct was rooted in political speech.
But for the legal requirement that they had to report their work with Russia to the attorney general, no crime would have been committed, the judge noted. It wasn’t clear that any of the defendants were even aware of that requirement.
“All of these statements, all of these words, if there weren’t a reporting requirement, are completely protected,” Jung said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Marcet argued that the group’s involvement with a hostile foreign power was not totally unwitting, as evidenced by their own statements presented at trial, and their acceptance of money to perform certain activities.
“Obviously, they knew they were working for the Russian government,” Marcet said. The prosecutor asked that the three be given three years in prison.
While commending the prosecutors for their skill in handling a difficult case, Jung said it would be highly unusual for any judge to impose a prison sentence on the defendants, none of whom had a serious criminal history, and two of whom were of advanced age.
As a condition of probation, the judge ordered that the three are to have no contact with Russian nationals or organizations.
The Uhuru Movement is the activist arm of the African People’s Socialist Party, which Yeshitela, 83, founded in St. Petersburg in the early 1970s. The group has worked toward various goals on behalf of Black people worldwide, including reparations for past wrongs committed against enslaved Africans, the unification of African nations under a single socialist government and the release of Black political prisoners. Uhuru is a Swahili word that means freedom.
The sentencing hearing bookended a case that began two years ago when FBI agents raided the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg and several other properties linked to the group. A subsequent indictment accused a Russian man, Aleksandr Ionov, of fostering a partnership with the Uhurus in an effort to spread pro-Russian propaganda and sow political discord in the U.S.
Ionov runs an organization known as the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, which is funded by the Russian government and seeks to advance the nation’s interests worldwide. Part of his efforts involved working discretely with separatist groups in the U.S. and other countries to exploit and enflame political divisions, the government alleged. He reported regularly to officers in Russia’s intelligence service.
Portions of the indictment detailed allegations that Ionov helped fund and direct the campaigns of Uhuru members who ran in St. Petersburg city elections in 2017 and 2019. It also alleged that he directed the group to carry out protests and other actions and to publish pro-Russian articles in their newspaper, the Burning Spear.
Yeshitela was charged months after the FBI searches, along with Hess, 79, and Nevel, 35, who lead branches of the Uhuru’s white allies. Romain, who left the Uhurus in 2018 and started his own group in Atlanta called the Black Hammer, was also accused of being part of the conspiracy.
The four were convicted in a September trial of conspiracy to act as Russian agents without notifying the attorney general. A jury delivered not-guilty verdicts on charges that they actually acted as Russian agents.
Their defense attorneys argued that the case was rooted in free speech. Nothing the group did, they argued, was inconsistent with their more than 40 years of activism.
Ahead of sentencing, more than 600 Uhuru supporters mailed letters to the court.
“Mr. Yeshitela is not denying that he traveled to Russia, met with Aleksandr Ionov and did enter into a partnership with Mr. Ionov,” defense attorney Ade Griffin wrote in a sentencing memo. “However, none of the actions that Mr. Yeshitela was involved with on behalf of African People’s Socialist Party … benefitted either Mr. Ionov or the Russian government, because in the end, nothing was ever accomplished by either party that caused harm to the United States of America.”
The defense also noted that the Uhurus never tried to conceal what they were doing or their views on Russia, underscoring the argument that they did not know their conduct was illegal, or that the law required them to register with the attorney general as Russian agents.
Marcet argued that the case had nothing to do with speech, but with a concern for national security. That concern, he wrote in a sentencing memo, “was based on having a large network of Americans, on U.S. soil, working on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service, and doing so covertly.”
“The defendants’ conspiracy gave Russian intelligence a foothold and a veneer of legitimacy in this country, which Russian intelligence exploited — with the defendants’ knowledge and acquiescence — to expand its network of contacts and influence in this country,” Marcet wrote.
He added that the secret nature of foreign intelligence operations makes it difficult to determine whether this network has been uprooted and stopped.
Attorneys for the three reiterated the argument that everything the Uhurus did was an expression of their right to free speech.
“One of the things we can say about this country is you do have the freedom to say whatever you want as long as it doesn’t cross over a certain threshold,” said attorney Mutaqee Akbar, who represented Nevel. “That’s what we were trying to say. We’re not asking anybody to agree with the movement or to agree with reparations or to agree with petitions but to agree that we have the right to say what we have to say.”
Leonard Goodman, who represented Hess, called the government’s arguments “absurd.”
“The judge recognized that today,” he said.
