TAMPA, Fla. — First Amendment or foreign interference?
The question is facing jurors in a federal trial kicking off Tuesday in Tampa, with four Americans charged with conspiring with Russia to influence local elections and sow discord in the U.S.
All four defendants are current or former members of the African People's Socialist Party which promotes Black power. Three of the activists are leaders of the Uhuru Movement, based and founded in St. Petersburg.
82-year-old founder Omali Yeshitela and members Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel are among the group indicted last year on charges of conspiring and acting as agents of the Russian government without notifying the U.S. Attorney General.
Former Uhuru member and founder of Black Hammer, Augutus Romain Jr., is also facing a charge of conspiring to act as a foreign agent of Russia.
The charges came after a 2022 FBI raid of the Uhuru’s headquarters in St. Pete. Prosecutors allege the activist group kept a relationship with and took money from Russian, Alexsander Ionov.
The DOJ says Ionov runs the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia, backed by the Russian government.
Prosecutors allege Ionov used the group to conduct protests, run candidates for St. Pete office and push pro-Russian propaganda online and in print. The indictment alleges it is an example of Russia trying to broaden its influence and sow discord in Democratic countries.
The defendants, including Yeshitela, have maintained their innocence, denying they took money for any direct action and say they’re being used as vehicles for an attack on First Amendment rights.
“We are not guilty of the absurd charges that we are Russian spies deployed by the Kremlin, to disrupt the St. Pete local elections,” Nevel told 10 Tampa Bay last year.
“These indictments have no basis in reality, but this is how this government has attacked African people, Black people, who struggle for freedom, and self-determination,” Hess said at the time.
Yeshitela said the indictment was the culmination of a decades-long effort to silence him and the Uhuru movement.
“Free speech has to be afforded to Black people. If it is not afforded to us, then there can be no free speech for anybody, and that’s something that everybody should understand because the assault on free speech, the assault on basic democratic principles is one that’s always made against someone or some group that is assumed to be unpopular,” Yeshitela said.
Supporters of the Uhuru Movement echoed those sentiments as they gathered outside the courthouse Tuesday.
“The US government is attempting to shred the First Amendment, the right to free speech, the right to freedom of the press and freedom of association through the political persecution of black-led organization that has advocated for the liberation of African people for nearly 60 years,” said Mwezi Odom, chair of Hands off Uhuru! Hands off Africa!
“This is racist denial of Black people's agency. We can think for ourselves we define our own agenda,” Odom added.
"This accusation ignores their lifelong history of activism and tries to disparage their deeply held beliefs as products of Russian propaganda,” said Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein, who joined supporters outside.
If convicted, the “Uhuru 3” could face upwards of 10 years in federal prison. The trial is expected to take three weeks.
10 Tampa Bay's Eric Glasser contributed to this report.