Tampa, Florida — The trial of four activists accused of illegally acting as Russian agents to help the Kremlin sow political discord and interfere in U.S. elections began Tuesday in Florida.
All four are or were affiliated with the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement, which have offices in St. Petersburg, Florida, and St. Louis. Among those charged is Omali Yeshitela, 82, president of the U.S.-based organization that focuses on black empowerment and efforts to secure reparations for slavery and what it considers past genocide of Africans.
In an opening statement, Yeshitela’s attorney, Ade Griffin, said the group shared many of the goals of a Russian organization called the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, but did not operate under the control of that nation’s government.
“Ladies and gentlemen, that’s simply not true,” Griffin told a mixed jury. “This is a censorship case.”
Yeshitela and two other defendants are charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States and failure to register with the Justice Department as agents of a foreign government. The fourth defendant, who later founded a separate group in Atlanta called Black Hammer, is charged only with conspiracy. They have all pleaded not guilty.
Three Russians, two of whom prosecutors say are Russian intelligence agents, are also charged in the case but have not been arrested.
While there are some echoes of allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, U.S. District Judge William Jung has said those issues are not part of this case.
“This trial will not address Russian interference in the 2016 United States presidential election,” Jung said in an order dated Monday.
In his opening statement, Justice Department attorney Menno Goedman said members of the group acted at Russia’s direction to organize protests in 2016 claiming that black people had been victims of genocide in the United States and took other actions over the next six years that would benefit Russia, including opposing U.S. policies in the war in Ukraine.
“This is about dividing Americans, dividing communities, pitting neighbor against neighbor,” Goedman told jurors. “The defendants acted at the behest of the Russian government to sow division right here in the United States.”
That included supporting a 2019 St. Petersburg city council candidate the Russians claimed to be “supervising,” according to the indictment. The candidate lost that election and has not been charged in the case.
Much of this alleged cooperation involved support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, Yeshitela held a press conference in which he declared that “the African People’s Socialist Party calls for unity with Russia in its defensive war in Ukraine against the world’s colonial powers.” He also called for the independence of the Russian-occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.
Defense lawyers, however, said that despite their ties to the Russian organization, the actions of the African People’s Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement were precisely aligned with what they have stood for for more than 50 years. Yeshitela founded the organization in 1972 as a black empowerment group opposed to the vestiges of colonialism around the world.
“They shared certain common beliefs,” said attorney Leonard Goodman, who represents defendant Penny Hess. “That makes them threatening.”
Yeshitela, Hess and their co-defendant Jesse Nevel face up to 15 years in prison if convicted of conspiracy and foreign agent registration. The fourth defendant, Augustus Romain, could face a maximum sentence of five years if convicted of the registration count.
The trial is expected to last up to four weeks.
