Trial begins in Florida against activists who are said to have helped Russia sow political division and chaos

TAMPA, Florida. – The trial of four activists accused of acting illegally as Russian agents to help the Kremlin sow political discord and interfere in the US elections began in Florida on Tuesday.

All four are or were associated with the African People's Socialist Party and the Uhuru movement, which have offices in St. Petersburg, Florida and St. Louis. Among the defendants is Omali Yeshitela, the 82-year-old leader of the U.S.-based organization that promotes black empowerment and seeks reparations for slavery and what it sees as past genocide of Africans.

In an opening statement, Yeshitela's attorney, Ade Griffin, said the group shares many of the goals of a Russian organization called the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, but does not operate under the control of that country's government.

“Ladies and gentlemen, that is simply not true,” Griffin told a multiracial jury. “This case is about censorship.”

Yeshitela and two others 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 formed his own group in Atlanta called Black Hammer, is charged only with conspiracy. All have pleaded not guilty.

Three Russians, two of whom prosecutors say are Russian intelligence agents, are also facing charges in the case, but they have not been arrested.

Although there are some echoes of allegations that Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, U.S. District Judge William Jung said those issues are not part of the case at hand.

“This trial will not concern Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election,” Jung said in a ruling issued on Monday.

In his opening statement, Menno Goedman, a lawyer in the US Department of Justice, said that members of the group organized protests under Russian leadership in 2016 claiming that black people were victims of genocide in the US. Over the next six years, they also took other actions that benefited Russia, including opposition to US policy in the Ukraine war.

“This is about dividing Americans, dividing communities, pitting neighbors against each other,” Goedman told jurors. “The defendants acted on the orders of the Russian government to sow discord here in the United States.”

This included supporting a candidate for St. Petersburg City Council in 2019, whom the Russians allegedly “supervised,” according to the indictment. The candidate lost that race and was not charged in the case.

Much of the alleged cooperation involved supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022, Yeshitela held a press conference where he said the “African People's Socialist Party calls for unity with Russia in its defensive war in Ukraine against the colonial powers of the world.” He also called for the independence of the Russian-occupied Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

But defenders said that despite their links to the Russian organization, the actions of the African People's Socialist Party and the Uhuru Movement were exactly what they have advocated for more than 50 years. Yeshitela founded the organization in 1972 as a black self-help group opposing the remnants of colonialism around the world.

“They had some shared beliefs,” said attorney Leonard Goodman, who represents defendant Penny Hess. “That makes them a threat.”

Yeshitela, Hess and 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 charges.

The process is expected to take up to four weeks.