Three activists with St. Louis ties will not face prison time after being convicted of conspiracy charges.
A U.S. District judge in Florida ruled that the “Uhuru Three” will instead face 300 hours of community service and 36 months of probation.
That trio includes African People's Socialist Party’s Chairman Omali Yeshitela and committee Chair Penny Joanne Hess as well as Uhuru Solidarity Movement Chair Jesse Nevel. Last year, they were indicted on charges of acting as unregistered Russian agents.
They each faced up to 10 years for that charge but were acquitted by a grand jury earlier this year. A jury convicted the three of conspiracy, a less serious charge.
Uhuru members and allies celebrated the sentencing Monday morning at a press conference outside the U.S. District Courthouse in Tampa, Florida. Members of Hands Off Uhuru, a group advocating for the release of the Uhuru Three, hosted a livestream outside the courthouse with activists including Fred Hampton Jr., the son of Illinois Black Panther Chair Fred Hampton, who was killed during a police raid in 1969.
The livestream detailed the charges and, at times, reenacting portions of the trial using virtual Zoom avatars, narrating arguments used by prosecutors and defense lawyers. It was part of a three-part reenactment of the trial that Burning Spear, the African People’s Socialist Party’s media arm, produced. The reenactment included readings of court transcripts.
During the press conference, Uhuru members called the trial a sham and thanked Judge William F. Jung for his ruling.
“The only reason [Jung] was given this opportunity is because we fought. If we had laid down, we wouldn't have had this discussion,” Yeshitela said.
Lawyers for Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel said they will appeal the conviction.
The saga began in 2022 after FBI agents raided the African People's Socialist Party and Uhuru Solidarity Movement offices in St. Louis and St. Petersburg, Florida.
Federal prosecutors argued the three were influenced by Russian national Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov. The indictment alleges that Ionov founded the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, a group run by members of the Russian government to push pro-Russian propaganda and influence Americans through groups that include the African People’s Socialist Party. It also alleges that Yeshitela went to Russia and was invited and paid for by Ionov and tried to push pro-Russian talking points and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Prosecutors cited two web conferences Ionov attended that were hosted by Yeshitela titled “Live With Russia” and “Negating Colonial Lies About Russia.”
In 2023, Yeshitela denied taking money from the Russian government. Yeshitela, Hess and Nevel have maintained that prosecutors were targeting political speech.
“One of the things that we can say about this country that we live in is that you do have the freedom to say whatever it is that you want, as long as it doesn't cross over certain thresholds,” Nevel’s lawyer Mutaqee Akbar said. “We're not asking anybody to agree with the movement or to agree with reparations or to agree with the petition, but agree that we have the right to say what we have that we have to say.”
Yeshitela co-founded the African People's Socialist Party in 1972. The organization advocates for reparations for Black Americans. The group has gained prominence over the past decade, organizing marches for reparations across the country.
In St. Louis, the group raised almost $130,000 to build a basketball court in the city’s Fairground neighborhood. Members of the African People’s Education and Defense Fund, which is tied to the party, applied for a permit to open the Uhuru Bakery and Cafe in the city’s College Hill neighborhood. The conditional use permit was denied by the city’s Board of Public Service. The city will hold a hearing on the issue in February.
