The former top leader and other members of the far-right extremist group Proud Boys were charged Monday with seditious conspiracy for what federal prosecutors say was a coordinated attack on the US Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying the Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
The latest indictment against Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, the former president of the Proud Boys, and four others linked to the group comes as the US House committee investigating the January 6 riots prepares to begin hearings. public this week to present their findings.
The indictment alleges that the Proud Boys conspired to forcibly oppose the legal transfer of presidential power. Tarrio and the others, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, were previously indicted on different counts of conspiracy.
They are scheduled to stand trial in August in federal court in Washington.
The seditious conspiracy charges are among the most serious brought yet, but they are not the first of their kind. Eleven members or associates of the Oath Keepers anti-government militia group, including its founder and leader Stewart Rhodes, were indicted in January on seditious conspiracy charges in a serious escalation in the largest investigation in Justice Department history.
Three Oath Keepers have already pleaded guilty to the rarely used Civil War-era charge that calls for up to 20 years in prison. The indictment alleges that the Oath Keepers and their associates prepared in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 as if they were going to war, discussing things like weapons and training.
Tarrio, the main leader of the group, was not in Washington when the riot broke out on Jan. 6, 2021, but authorities say he helped spark the violence that day.
Police arrested him in Washington two days before the riots and charged him with ripping up a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic black church during a protest in December 2020. Tarrio was released from jail on January 14 after serving his sentence. five months for that. case.
An attorney for Tarrio said his client “is going to have his day in court.”
“And we intend to vigorously represent him through that process,” Nayib Hassan said.
Dozens of preloaded Proud Boys
Defense attorney Carmen Hernandez, who represents Rehl, said her client is “just as innocent of these charges as the ones that were already pending against him.”
“Seditious conspiracy requires the use of force, and he never used force or thought of using force,” Hernandez said.
More than three dozen people indicted in the Capitol siege have been identified by federal authorities as leaders, members or associates of the Proud Boys, whose members describe it as a politically incorrect boys’ club for “Western chauvinists.”
They have quarreled with anti-fascist activists at rallies and protests. Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, who founded the Proud Boys in 2016, sued the Southern Poverty Law Center for labeling him a hate group.
The indictment alleges that the Proud Boys held meetings and communicated via encrypted messages to plan the attack in the days leading up to January 6. On the day of the riots, authorities say the Proud Boys dismantled the metal barricades set up to protect the Capitol and mobilized, directed and herded members of the crowd into the building.
Prosecutors have said that the Proud Boys arranged for members to communicate using specific frequencies on Baofeng radios. Devices made in China can be programmed for use on hundreds of frequencies, making it difficult for strangers to eavesdrop.
Shortly before the riots, authorities say Tarrio posted on social media that the group planned to perform in “record numbers” on Jan. 6, but would be “incognito” instead of wearing their traditional colors of black and yellow.
Around the same time, an unidentified person sent Tarrio a document laying out plans to occupy some “crucial buildings” in Washington on Jan. 6, including House and Senate office buildings around Capitol Hill, the indictment says. . The nine-page document was titled “1776 Returns” and called for “as many people as possible” to “show our politicians that we, the people, are in charge,” according to the indictment.
Reference-www.cbc.ca