Jesse Nevel, left, speaks during a news conference at the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida, as Omali Yeshitela, middle, and Penny Hess listen. The three members of the Uhuru Movement face trial on federal charges alleging that they acted for years as agents of the Russian government in an effort to sow political discord in the U.S. (Dan Sullivan/Tampa Bay Times/TNS)
TAMPA (Tribune News Service) — One day in 2015, Omali Yeshitela sent an email to fellow leaders in the African People’s Socialist Party about a Russian organization that had hosted him at a conference in Moscow.
He wrote that the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia was most likely using “forces inside the United States” to sow discord.
“It is clear that it is an instrument of the Russian government,” Yeshitela wrote. “That does not disturb us.”
A prosecutor quoted the email Tuesday as the trial of Yeshitela and three others connected to the St. Petersburg-based Uhuru Movement opened in a Tampa courtroom.
The four are on trial for charges that they were involved in a conspiracy to act as unregistered agents of the Russian government, part of that country’s effort to meddle in U.S. politics and foster social divisions.
“They failed to be transparent, as federal law requires them to be,” prosecutor Menno Goedman told the jury.
He asserted that the defendants were not being prosecuted for their political beliefs. But that is exactly what the defense says the case is all about.
“This is a case of censorship,” said defense lawyer Ade Griffin, who represents Yeshitela. “The evidence will show that this case is a direct attempt by the United States of America to censor the views of the (African People’s Socialist Party).”
The trial began a little more than two years after FBI agents executed a stunning predawn search at the group’s St. Petersburg headquarters, known as the Uhuru House.
The Uhuru Movement, long a social and political presence in St. Petersburg, operates as the activist arm of the African People’s Socialist Party. Yeshitela, 82, has led the group since the 1970s, advocating for freedom and reparations for African people worldwide.
Jesse Nevel, 34, and Penny Hess, 78, who lead branches of the group’s white allies, are also charged in the case, along with Augustus C. Romain Jr., 38, who left the Uhurus in 2018 and started his own Atlanta-based group called the Black Hammer.
Prosecutor Menno Goedman, of the Department of Justice’s counterintelligence section, walked the jury through what he described as a seven-year scheme of Russian meddling in U.S. politics that ensnared the Uhurus.
It began, he said, in May 2015, when a Russian man named Aleksandr Ionov invited Yeshitela on an all-expenses-paid trip to Russia to “communicate on future cooperation.”
Ionov, 34, leads the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, which is funded by the Russian government. He offered to pay the Uhurus in return for a series of actions and events, the prosecutor said. It was later that year that Yeshitela attended a “Dialogue of Nations” conference hosted by Ionov’s organization.
Goedman quoted Yeshitela in an email saying he “assumed the meeting was being convened by forces of the Kremlin.” He said their discussion centered on the shared interests of their respective groups, and that Ionov’s organization meant to sow division in the U.S.
Goedman listed several examples of things Ionov directed the Uhurus to do. They included preparing a petition to the United Nations accusing the U.S. of committing genocide against African Americans. He directed them to publish pro-Russian articles in their community newspaper, the Burning Spear, including one in support of Russia’s Olympic team after a doping scandal.
In 2017, Ionov gave the Uhurus $12,000 for a multicity protest tour focused on the genocide of African Americans, the prosecutor said. He also meddled in local elections, including Nevel’s 2017 run for St. Petersburg mayor.
Romain also communicated with Ionov after starting the Black Hammer. The Russian paid for Romain’s group to visit California for a protest at Facebook’s headquarters, the prosecutor said. Ionov even helped design some of the signs they carried.
Video of another protest at the Georgia state Capitol showed Romain’s group waving Russian flags.
“I’m not ashamed to say that the Black Hammer Party has relationships with the Kremlin,” Goedman quoted Romain saying in the video.
All the while, Ionov reported regularly to intelligence officers in Russia’s Federal Security Service, known as the FSB. He communicated directly with two FSB officers, Aleksey Sukhodolov and Yegor Popov, about his work with the Uhurus and efforts to interfere in American elections. The three Russians are not in U.S. custody.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Ionov wrote in an email to the officers that “we f—ked up the information war.” Thereafter, he enlisted the Uhurus to speak out in Russia’s favor. One member later wrote publicly that the African People’s Socialist Party “stands with (Vladimir) Putin.”
The Uhurus don’t deny that they’ve spoken favorably of Russia. But they reject the notion of being controlled by any foreign entity.
They’ve been consistent since the 1970s in their calls for reparations and freedom from colonialism, the defense argued.
“Omali Yeshitela has dedicated his life to the liberation of all Black people,” Griffin, his attorney, told the jury. “He has not and never will work at the direction of anyone other than himself.”
Chicago attorney Leonard Goodman, who represents Hess, told the jury the government would highlight language where the Russians “sound a little bossy.” But he urged them to look at the full context.
“The government’s position is somewhat puzzling,” Goodman said. “Even though this group has been saying the same thing for 50 years, after 2015 they’re saying it for Russia.”
Their real crime, Goodman argued, was holding positive views of Russia at a time when the U.S. government was telling people to “hate and fear” the nation.
Nevel’s attorney, Mutaquee Akbar, noted that the word Uhuru means freedom in Swahili. The freedom to speak on issues that might not be popular, he said, is at the heart of the case.
“Freedom,” he said. “That’s what this case is about.”
Attorneys for the government and defense spent much of Tuesday sorting through a panel of 80 prospective jurors. The panelists came from as far south as North Port and as far north as Spring Hill. They were told they would need to be able to devote three weeks to hear the case.
A panel of 12 jurors with six alternates was selected by midafternoon.
The trial drew more than 60 spectators. It took place in the largest courtroom in the Sam Gibbons U.S. District Courthouse. Every bench in the gallery was packed.
The trial resumes Wednesday.
©2024 Tampa Bay Times.
Visit tampabay.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
