Uhuru activists convicted for exposing U.S. proxy war in Ukraine

By David Sole

In one of the most outrageous frame-up trials in recent memory four activists have been convicted in Federal court for using their right to free speech. Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel of the Uhuru Movement based in St. Petersburg, Florida and Augustus Romain, Jr. of the Atlanta based Black Hammer Party were accused by the Justice Department of “conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents” as well as the more serious charge of “acting as agents of a foreign government.”

The jury, which excluded any African Americans, came back with a split decision finding the four guilty of the conspiracy charge and not guilty of the “acting as agents” charge. Their conviction carries with it a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison.

The Tampa Bay Times reported the “crime” as “what federal prosecutors described as a seven-year conspiracy to sow discord and enflame American political tensions at the behest of Russia.” This amounted to convicting people for speaking out against U.S. imperialist war policies.

Yeshitela, the 82 year old leader of the African People’s Socialist Party, proclaimed

“The most important thing is they were unable to convict us of working for anybody except Black people. I am willing to be charged and found guilty of working for Black people.”

Attorney Leonard Goodman repeated the defense’s argument “that the government prosecuted the Uhurus to censor them for their pro-Russian views.” The defendants intend to appeal their conviction.

Below is reprinted the statement by the National Conference of Black Lawyers at the start of the trial:

NCBL STATEMENT CALLING FOR THE DISMISSAL OF INDICTMENT AND ALL CHARGES AGAINST THE UHURU 3

The National Conference of Black Lawyers (NCBL) stands in solidarity with the Uhuru 3, Chairman Omali Yeshitela, and Chairpersons Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, in their defense against the fabricated charges brought by the United States government.

The NCBL will be closely monitoring the Uhuru 3 trial, which is scheduled to begin September 3, 2024, in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Tampa Division.

The United States, through its agencies, specifically, the FBI and the Justice Department, has historically used the criminal courts and carceral systems to stifle lawful and constitutional expressions of free speech and assembly. From as early as the 1920s, the FBI and its Counterintelligence Program have engaged in conduct to silence, neutralize, and destroy the leadership and members of various Black civil rights organizations and activist groups advocating for the human right of self-determination for Black people of African descent, Indigenous Americans, and all oppressed peoples.

Such groups and individuals include:

• The Universal Negro Improvement Association
• Marcus Garvey
• Malcolm X
• The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Martin Luther King, Jr.
• Paul Robeson
• James Baldwin
• Angela Y. Davis
• Ruchell Magee
• The American Indian Movement
• The Black Panther Party
• The Black Liberation Army
• Jeronimo Ji-jaga (Pratt)
• Fred Hampton
• Mark Clark
• Bunchy Carter
• John Huggins
• Leonard Peltier
• The Republic of New Africa
• The Nation of Islam

Omali Yeshitela is the longtime chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party, also known as the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, which has been based in his native St. Petersburg since its founding in 1972 (with chapters in St. Louis and Oakland).

For more than fifty (50) years, Chairman Omali has been a tenacious organizer and strident voice for Black people of African descent, continental Africans, African Diasporans, Indigenous Americans, and all oppressed peoples. He has maintained consistent leadership in the peoples’ struggle against racism, police brutality, and U.S. and European colonization, militarism, and imperialism, and for reparations.

The current Indictment against the Uhuru 3 simply represents the U.S. government’s latest and most determined effort to criminalize Omali Yeshitela’s, Penny Hess’, and Jesse Nevel’s constitutionally protected rights to dissent, protest, and assemble and operate in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.

In fact, the government filed a motion with the Court requesting that the Uhuru 3 be disallowed from raising First Amendment-related arguments with respect to their defense. This motion was rightfully denied by the presiding court.

Furthermore, the NCBL expresses profound concern regarding the exercise of politicized prosecutorial discretion by federal prosecutors and law enforcement in the form of investigations, indictments, and prosecutions, including but not limited to the most recent raid upon the home of journalist Scott Ritter, the prosecution of the Cameroon Three, and the continued incarceration of the Holy Land Five over the last twenty (20) years.

These prosecutions appear not only politicized, but selective in nature, in violation of both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. These concerning actions also undermine the so-called democratic principles purportedly inherent in the rule of law in the United States and contradict standards set forth in international human rights provisions.

The National Conference of Black Lawyers demands the dismissal of the Indictment and all charges against the Uhuru 3.