Four Black rights activists were convicted in the United States on September 12 on charges of conspiring to act as unregistered Russian agents, the Justice Department said. A jury in Florida found them not guilty of the more serious charge of acting as agents of a foreign government. The four face maximum sentences of five years in prison, the department said. Among the four are Omali Yeshitela, 82, founder of the African People's Socialist Party (APSP) and the Uhuru Movement, and Augustus Romain Jr., 38, leader of a spinoff group Black Hammer. Prosecutors said the four carried out a number of actions in the United States between 2015 and 2022 on behalf of the Russian government and received money and support from Aleksandr Ionov, president of the Anti-Globalization Movement of Russia. Ionov used the activists to promote Russian views on politics, the Ukraine war, and other issues, they said.
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