January 6 attack, ex-Proud Boys leader sentenced to 22 years in prison

2023-09-06 13:45:20, Kosova & Bota CNA

Former Proud Boys frontman Enrique Tarrio was sentenced Tuesday to 22 years in prison for orchestrating a failed plot to keep former President Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election.

Tuesday's sentencing closes one of the most important criminal cases related to the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.

The sentence for ringleader Tarrio is the longest so far among more than 1,100 Capitol riot cases.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and former Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean were both sentenced to 18 years in prison for their roles in the January 6 events.

Prosecutors had sought 33 years in prison for Tarrio, even though he had been arrested and ordered out of Washington by the time members of the 'Proud Boys' group joined thousands of Mr Trump's supporters at the Capitol. But prosecutors say Tarrio organized and led the group's attack from afar, inspiring followers with his charisma and penchant for propaganda.

He had been charged with conspiracy to commit sedition, a rare charge brought over from the Civil War era for which the Justice Department accused members of far-right groups that played a key role in the Jan. 6 attack.

" Using his powerful platform, Tarrio has repeatedly and publicly demonstrated that he has no remorse for assisting in what happened on January 6 ," a court filing said.

The lawyers of the 39-year-old from Miami deny that the "Proud Boys" group had planned to attack the Capitol.

Recently, the Department of Justice has also sued Mr. Trump for conspiracy to subvert the American democratic system, accusing the former president of conspiring in the days before the attack to overturn the election results that declared him the loser.

Mr Trump, who is the Republican front-runner for the 2024 presidential election, insists he has not broken the law. His trial on this matter is set for March 4.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with federal crimes in connection with the violent attack on the Capitol. More than 600 of them have been convicted and more than half have received punitive measures of imprisonment./ VOA