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Assault on the Capitol: the leader of a far-right militia convicted of “sedition”

Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right group Oath Keepers, was found guilty of “sedition” after the federal building was stormed in January 2021. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and another member of the far-right militia became the first participants in the Capitol storming Tuesday to be convicted of “sedition.”

After two months of trial and three days of deliberations in federal court in Washington, the twelve jurors, on the other hand, dismissed this extremely rare charge, punishable by 20 years in prison, for three other Oath Keepers members.

All five were found guilty of obstructing an official process. They will be sentenced in the spring of 2023.

On January 6, 2021, they attacked the temple of American democracy with a thousand other supporters of Donald Trump, when elected officials certified the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the presidential election.

Since this coup d’état that shocked the world, more than 870 people have been arrested and a hundred have received prison sentences, including the perpetrators of violence against the police. But so far, no one had been convicted of “sedition.”

Weapons purchased and stored prior to the assault.

This charge, which stems from a law passed after the Civil War to suppress the last rebels in the south, implies having planned the use of force to oppose the government. It differs from the insurrection, which has a more spontaneous character.

During the trial, prosecutors showed that the Oath Keepers purchased weapons and combat equipment and stored them in a hotel near Washington. On D-Day, in helmets and combat gear, they had entered the Capitol in combat formation.

Stewart Rhodes had stayed out of it, but according to prosecutors, he had led his troops with a radio “like a general on the battlefield.”

On the witness stand, this tribune, recognizable by his black eye patch, denied “having planned” this attack and maintained that the “mission” of the Oath Keepers was to ensure the security of the demonstration called by Donald Trump to denounce the “electoral attacks”. fraud” (the existence of which has never been established).

Author: HG with AFP
Source: BFM TV

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