A jury in Florida has convicted four civil rights activists of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents as part of a secret initiative by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) to influence U.S. politics.
The September 12 conviction of the four activists in a federal court in Tampa followed a trial that revealed details of a seven-year Russian effort to sow division within the United States by backing marginal political groups.
The activists found guilty include African People's Socialist Party founder Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, Jesse Nevel, and Augustus Romain Jr., who face up to five years in prison on the conspiracy conviction. They were acquitted of the more serious charge of acting as Russian agents.
"The most important thing is they were unable to convict us of working for anybody except Black people," Yeshitela said following the verdict.
Text messages entered as evidence in the case and first reported by RFE/RL revealed conversations between a Aleksandr Ionov, a Russian national who coordinated with the activists, and his FSB handlers.
The communications also detailed interactions between Ionov and a fringe U.S. group advocating for the secession of California from the United States.
Prosecutors had charged that the activists knowingly worked with Ionov and by extension the FSB officers; Ionov paid for at least one of them to travel to Moscow in 2015 for a conference planned by Ionov's organization, the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia.
Evidence entered in the case by U.S. prosecutors included images and video footage of Ionov and Yeshitela, 82, meeting in Russia.
Prosecutors said Yeshitela told his fellow activists that Ionov would only provide backing for efforts that would support Russia's attempts to "undermin[e] the U.S." and that Ionov was utilizing "forces inside of the U.S. to s[o]w division inside the U.S."
Yeshitela's attorney, Ade Griffin, said in closing arguments in the Florida case that Ionov did not control the activists, saying his client was "not for sale."
Ionov also allegedly advised the group on wording for protest signs; according to the indictment, he also paid $3,000 to several activists for them to travel to San Francisco to protest at the headquarters of Meta, Facebook's parent company, after it restricted pro-Russian posts about Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
According to prosecutors, Romain messaged Ionov after the demonstration: "This is great! That was fun! Who [sic] we attacking next? With more time I can get a bigger crowd."
A sentencing date has not been set in the case.
The Justice Department said the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating the case.