An important First Amendment case, United States v. Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess, and Jesse Nevel, will go to trial this September in Tampa, Florida. The defendants, activists associated with the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP), are accused of acting as Russian agents while criticizing U.S. interference in Ukraine.
The APSP, founded by Yeshitela in 1972, is a nonviolent group in the Black radical tradition, advocating against Western colonialism and NATO expansion. It has a longstanding history of opposing U.S. actions abroad, including the 2014 Maidan coup in Ukraine and NATO's eastward expansion.
The APSP's troubles began in spring 2022, after they publicly blamed the U.S. for provoking Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On July 29, 2022, in what appears to be a direct effort to suppress dissenting speech, FBI SWAT teams raided APSP leaders' homes and offices. In April 2023, Yeshitela, Hess, and Nevel were charged under a federal statute criminalizing unregistered foreign agents. The charges stem from a $7,000 donation the APSP received in 2016 from a person allegedly tied to the Russian government (although Washington lobbyists and think tanks routinely get millions of dollars for advocating for foreign governments and are never charged with a crime). If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison.
Many Americans will disagree with the APSP defendants’ view that the U.S. provoked Russia into invading Ukraine; however, there is a very strong jurisprudence from the US Supreme Court over the years that says people cannot be prosecuted for political speech. Goodman Law Office is advocating the defendants’ right to speak out and to dissent.
This case raises significant First Amendment issues, and the trial date is scheduled for September 3, 2024.
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