Tampa, Florida—On Monday, September 9, 2024, the free speech trial of Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel began its second week.
Proceedings were delayed because two jurors had not arrived. One of the missing jurors arrived late and then at 9:45am, Judge William Jung declared that he would give the other absent juror 30 more minutes and then would remove her from the jury.
Attorney Mutaqee Akbar raised the fact that the missing juror was the only African on the jury. He asked the judge to replace her with the sole African juror in the pool of alternates who have been seated in the jury box throughout the trial.
The judge refused and seated a white juror. The 12-person jury now has no African members.
Defense cross-examines the FBI’s lead investigator
Uhuru 3 attorneys forced the lead investigator, and FBI’s star witness, to admit that there was no evidence to prove accusations made in the DOJ’s indictment. They exposed as lies the DOJ statements that there was Russian interference in the mayoral campaign of Jesse Nevel.
- Uhuru 3 attorney: “Do you have any evidence of Russian interference in the 2017 St. Petersburg, Florida mayoral campaign of Jesse Nevel?” FBI: “No”
- Uhuru 3 attorney: “Why was that accusation included in the indictment?” FBI: “I didn’t write the indictment.”
- Uhuru 3 attorney: “When you were in discussions with the DOJ about the indictments, you were aware that there was no evidence of Russian interference in Jesse Nevel’s electoral campaign?” FBI: “Yes.”
- Uhuru 3 attorney: “So a press release was issued saying that the Russian government was interfering in U.S elections through Jesse Nevel’s campaign while you knew there was absolutely no evidence of that.” FBI: “Yes.”
The government claimed that the Uhuru Movement’s petition charging the U.S. government with genocide was a Russian invention. Uhuru 3 Attorney Leonard Goodman asked the witness if she was aware of the “We Charge Genocide” petition, submitted by black leaders to the U.N. in 1951. She was not.
(Note: this post corrects an error contained in the initial post. The summary referenced was prepared by the Uhuru-3 PR, not by their legal team.)
Everyone should reflect on what happened in the trial of the Uhuru-3 earlier this week. According to a summary prepared by the… pic.twitter.com/ZHL4Rc0w2r
— Scott Ritter (@RealScottRitter) September 11, 2024
Jury begins to know the APSP
Despite their intentions, the government’s evidence and witnesses introduced to the jury the philosophy and history of the African People’s Socialist Party and its philosophy of African Internationalism. They showed a video of Jesse Nevel describing the Uhuru Movement’s position that the land of the Americas belongs to the Indigenous people.
The government played recordings of Zoom meetings to plan a protest against Facebook’s censorship. In these recordings, Chairman Omali described the basis for the APSP’s opposition to Facebook. It overlapped with Russian concerns, but went further. Facebook is owned by rich white people to dumb the population down. Chairman Omali explained that Facebook is tied to NATO when it blocks divergent views on the conflict in Ukraine. This role is reflected in the participation of Mark Zuckerberg in the annual Munich Security Conference and Facebook’s cooperation with U.S. intelligence surveillance efforts.
Uhuru 3 Attorney Goodman asked the lead FBI case agent if she had ever read the platform of the African People’s Socialist Party. She had not. Goodman explained that this platform was adopted in 1979 and remains the same today.
Monday’s proceedings concluded the cross examination and redirect of the prosecutor’s main witness the FBI special agent in charge of the surveillance and frame-up of the Uhuru 3. Tuesday, the government will bring one more witness and present closing arguments. Then the Uhuru 3’s defense will be presented.
On Tuesday, September 6, 2024, the jury and observers saw evidence supporting the innocence of the Uhuru 3 and heard closing arguments in the free speech trial of Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel.
Uhuru 3 attorney Ade Griffin presented documents and videos demonstrating the consistency of the views and work of the African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) spanning over 50 years. She displayed articles opposing U.S. wars and military intervention in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Grenada, Syria and Ukraine that were printed in issues of The Burning Spear newspaper going back decades. She played video recordings of interviews, meetings and broadcasts featuring Chairman Omali showing the self-directed message that he delivers, to introduce him to the jury.
Griffin introduced the pamphlet “Tactics and Strategy” written in 1977 by Chairman Omali, then known as Joseph Waller, that has guided the work of the African People’s Socialist Party ever since. She read a segment that refutes the idea of Chairman Omali being willing to take direction or come under the control of the Russian government. “Our first and most important objective should be to WIN BLACK PEOPLE TO THE POSITION OF POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE. If the masses of black people are not won over to the position of independence, there will be no independence for black people. It is as simple and clear as that.”
Griffin also read point #4 from the APSP’s platform, adopted in 1979, that reads, “We want the right to free speech and political association, a guarantee of the right to work for the betterment and emancipation of black people without fear of political imprisonment and the loss of life, limb and livelihood.
“We believe that the liberation of African people throughout the world will come primarily as a result of our own efforts. We believe it is our duty to our mothers and fathers, our children and ourselves, to organize ourselves to overcome our oppression. We believe that the rights to organize and speak out against our oppression are basic human rights and that the U.S. government must discontinue its attempts to smash these rights and must discontinue criminal attacks on those African patriots who work for the betterment and emancipation of our people.”
The DOJ prosecutors repeated their baseless accusations that the Uhuru 3 have been secret agents in a Russian government conspiracy to sow discord and interfere in elections. They showed the jurors some diagrams to illustrate their story. They reviewed the same email and WhatsApp communications shown earlier in the trial and painted a picture of Russian interference reminiscent of the Cold War.
In her closing argument, Attorney Griffin accused the DOJ and FBI of being the only conspirators in the room, having conducted criminal activity by holding a press conference and issuing an indictment that accused Jesse Nevel of inviting Russian interference into his local mayoral campaign and then yesterday admitting they knew they had no evidence whatsoever to back it up.
Subsequent reports on the Uhuru 3 free speech trial will include publication of the entire closing arguments.
Jury deliberations begin Wednesday morning.
Follow the case on HandsOffUhuru.org.